Death Eaters and Benadryl
by Crowlows19
Summary: The Death Eaters have come for Harry Potter but this slightly crazy Gryffindor has plenty of tricks up his sleeve.
1. Chapter 1

Just a cute little story I found on my computer. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

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The small group of Death Eaters had just managed to break through the wards of the quaint and utterly disgusting Muggle home. It was the home of the Boy-Who-Lived and they were there to take him dead or alive. The Dark Lord preferred alive but it wasn't necessary, and sometimes things just happen in the heat of battle.

They were expecting resistance; from the boy, from his relatives, and, if they lingered, from the Order as well.

They had managed to bring the wards down quietly but they didn't expect it go unnoticed for very long. The wards had already been weakened by the Dark Lord's return using the boy's blood but Dumbledore had hoped it wouldn't have mattered. He should have kept Potter at Hogwarts. Malfoy was honestly surprised he hadn't. He must not have expected the wards to be as weak as they were.

The three Death Eaters walked calmly up to the door of the Muggle home as if they were old friends who had come calling for a peaceful Sunday evening of cards and gossip. Malfoy knocked. They heard rustling, some music. It was all very irritating. And then the door was flung open and the boy stared at them for a moment, emotions flitting across his face faster than Malfoy could categorize before he settled on a wide smile.

The unexpectedness of the seemingly warm welcome forced Malfoy to pause and wonder and marvel.

"Well, well, well," Potter said crossing his arms and leaning against the doorjamb looking casual and confident. "If it isn't the Death Eaters come a calling. I told Dumbledore the wards wouldn't hold but does he listen? No! And now look! Well, you better come in before the neighbors see. It wouldn't do to have our centuries old secret blown sky high because you guys can't figure out that stripes look terrible with plaid. Honestly, you'd think the Wizarding world could afford a little fashion sense."

He began to walk away mid lecture, leaving the door wide open, and obviously expecting them to follow. Malfoy blinked in surprise but went in followed by McNair and Greyback. He followed the boy down the hall and into a Muggle kitchen that looked so clean it creeped even him out. His wand was clutched in his hand but he wasn't sure if he would need it. In all honestly, he wanted to find out what Potter thought he was doing.

"You know, you can take those masks off," the boy continued talking. "I know it's you Mr. Malfoy and I know that's McNair, and I know that's Greyback."

"How do you know who they are, boy?" Malfoy asked harshly finally finding his voice. The boy looked up from his perusal of the cabinets long enough to give him a wide smirk.

"Well, Draco has your eyes and I'd recognize your wand anywhere after you pulled it on me in second year. McNair was the one who was sent to execute Buckbeak and I recognize the scar on his arm. And really, who doesn't know who Greyback is? He's like a legend." With that he stuck his head into what Malfoy was pretty sure Muggles called an Icebox. He could see the boy's wand tucked securely in the back pocket of his ratty blue jeans. Something was off, Malfoy could practically smell it.

He was a little shocked at the boy's observational skills. He hadn't expected that. He had always been under the impression the boy was an incredibly lucky idiot.

"You're to come with us," McNair grunted as he tugged off his now useless mask, shrunk it, and stuck it in his pocket. The boy straightened up suddenly and looked over his shoulder at a white box with buttons sitting on the counter top. It displayed the time in weird, glowing green numbers.

"Do we have to go right now?" the boy asked. "The six o'clock news is about to come on and channel eight has this adorable weather girl. Besides it's about dinner time and I have to cook tonight. I'm making chicken, do you want some?"

"Yes," Greyback said before he could stop himself. Malfoy resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the animalistic man with a one track mind. The werewolf was also maskless and Malfoy quickly followed suit. He was starting to suspect that there would be no violence.

"Are you listening Potter?" he snapped. "We're here to take you to the Dark Lord."

"I realize that," the Gryffindor replied. "But in my experience the worst kidnapping attempts are those done on an empty stomach. So, dinner?"

"No!" McNair snapped. "Give me your wand!" Potter snatched it out of his pocket and tossed it to him. McNair caught it with a surprised look on his face. He really hadn't expected it to be that easy. The boy moved to the sink and turned on the water, washing vegetables and the chicken in the cold water as he continued to ramble. Malfoy was so confused he was surprised he was still standing. McNair was sneering at the boy, just as confused. The werewolf had taken a seat on the counter and was listening to the boy's chatter as if it was utterly fascinating.

"I kind of expected you guys to show up a little sooner," the boy was saying when Malfoy tuned back in. "I mean the wards have been getting weaker and weaker by the day ever since the Snake man came back on the scene. I was surprised as to how fast they went. I mean, they were always so strong and all. But then that's just my luck. Do you like cayenne? Is this like a super secret mission, or are there more of you outside? I don't have an endless supply of chicken but they can have some if they want it. What's Snake man planning on doing to me anyway? A simple AK, some torture? Live dissection? What about onion? You like onion?"

"Potter!" Malfoy nearly shouted, breaking through the boy's continuous prattle. He took a deep breath to calm himself knowing that losing his temper would only attract attention. The quieter they could do this the better and if Potter wasn't about to put up any kind of fight, who was he to complain. "Where are your relatives?"

"Oh! They'll be home late tonight," the boy replied with a smile. "Mr. Hartford is having a dinner party but his wife burns water so my Aunt asked me to leave them some food for when they got home. Well, ordered would be more like it but whatever. We'll have to leave before they get back though because my Aunt can scream really loud and Uncle Vernon has this shot gun that he bought to fight off all the freaky people coming to his house, so you know, we should go right after dinner and all. Oh! Should I bring my crap? I don't really suspect I'll need it and all but I'd rather not give them the satisfaction of being able to torch my things. You know?"

Malfoy had only ever seen Potter a few times for a very brief moment but he couldn't ever recall him being so chatty. It was going to give him a headache. He should probably just stun the brat and leave but he felt that there was an opportunity here, one he shouldn't waste.

"Yes," he replied silkily. "Tell me Mr. Potter, do you like being a Gryffindor?" Both of his companions sent him quick glances, wondering what he thought he was doing but willing to play along.

"Yeah, it's okay," the boy said over the sizzle of the chicken in the frying pan. "Sometimes it's a little hard, like when they found out I was a Parslemouth. My Housemates can be awfully mean. It kind of reminds me of Dudley sometimes, but at least at Hogwarts nobody dares to go too far. They're all scared of Dumbledore and McGonagall. Oh, and Hermione too. She can be kind of scary sometimes, especially when she gets cramps."

That wasn't quite the information he'd wanted; in fact it was _far_ too much information. He did, however, notice the werewolf suppress a smirk.

"So you don't always find Hogwarts enjoyable?" Malfoy continued hoping that with just the right little push the boy would spill. He was starting to wonder if Potter hadn't hit his head recently or perhaps ingested something.

"It's better than here," he said with a shrug flipping the meat and expertly seasoning it. "I mean it's a magic school! How cool is that?"

"Yeah," the werewolf grunted. "Cool."

"Exactly!" Potter continued on excitedly. "Although I wasn't all that sure I was going to go until Hagrid said that my parents went there and I really wanted to find out more about them. My Aunt and Uncle won't even say their names. I thought they had died in a car crash until I was like eleven, so I thought that maybe Hogwarts would be a good place to start. And then I got roped into it. I wanted to quit and go to Muggle school last year but Dumbledore wouldn't let me."

Now that was news to Malfoy. The boy had tried to leave?

"Why ever not?" he asked pleasantly as Potter brought down some plates.

"He never really did say," the boy replied. "Something about destiny and playing my part."

"And what did he say about destiny?" McNair asked, seizing the opening. Potter paused and looked at them with an uneasy expression.

"I don't know if I should tell you," he said. "I wouldn't want to tell tales, you know? I'm not a gossip."

"We won't tell anyone," Malfoy soothed the crazy child. Potter gave him a searching look, shrugged and continued talking as he dished the food out and handed each man a plate, directing them to the table.

"Well, when I was a baby Snake man came to kill me, like you know, because of this dumb prophecy that said that we would have to kill each other. Sit down, would you, the chair doesn't bite."

"This is the prophecy stored in the Ministry?" McNair asked and then winced slightly as Malfoy kicked him sharply under the table. Potter may not have known that. The boy shrugged again.

"I don't know where it's stored, didn't even know it was," he said, setting his plate down. "Hey, my Uncle has this awesome wine that his coworker brought back from France. You want some?" Without waiting for an answer he set the bottle and the corkscrew in front of Malfoy, and then went back for glasses. He came back with three for the Death Eaters and a Muggle fizzy drink for himself.

Normally Malfoy would be suspicious but the wax seal was unbroken, and Potter wasn't allowed to use Magic over the holidays. He was positive it was safe to drink. He uncorked it and poured. He then ate the chicken and rice that Potter had cooked up. It was surprisingly good. Delicious in fact and he wondered if the boy hadn't been a House Elf in a previous life.

Potter kept a running commentary throughout the meal and Malfoy had to marvel at the absurdity of the entire situation. They were there to kidnap him and yet the boy insisted they have dinner with him first. If it had been anyone else he would have suspected some sort of subterfuge but this was Potter, the golden Gryffindor who was so easily manipulated to do whatever they wanted.

"Hey, Mr. Malfoy, you work at the Ministry right?" Potter asked halfway through the meal.

"Yes, I do," he replied bluntly.

"Did you hear about the Dementor that came after me and Dudley a few days ago?" he asked and the blond man nodded. Of course, he had heard about that. Who hadn't? Although most people thought the boy was lying through his teeth but he knew better. The Dark Lord was hoping to use Fudge's utter stupidity to discredit Dumbledore and spirit away the Potter boy.

"Yes I did," he replied.

"C'n you believe they're going to prosecute me for under aged Magic?" he asked indignantly. "It's total bullshit! Greyback you have experience with Ministry dumbness, what do you do?"

"Eat their children," Greyback replied honestly and coldly. Potter blinked at him trying to formulate an answer and Malfoy and McNair had to suppress a smirk. They may not publicly rub elbows with the werewolf but in the privacy of masks and meetings they were close allies. All three had a perverse love of violence no matter how differently they expressed it.

"You enjoy baby back ribs," Potter said knowledgably and McNair nearly chocked. "I hear werewolves do. Although, Remus doesn't seem anything like you. You know him right? He's a werewolf too, kind of shabby looking, really loves chocolate?"

"I know him," Greyback replied taking a swig of his wine. Malfoy had heard the story about what had happened between Greyback and his 'cub'. Lupin had spied on his pack for nearly two years before committing what the werewolves considered to be the ultimate sin. Betrayal of the pack. Even the Dark Lord had not asked Greyback to turn against any werewolf. It had been a complicated and volatile time for the werewolves and violence between them and wizards had risen sharply.

"Yeah, he's really nice, but I'm not too sure I like him even if he was my Dad's friend," the Potter boy continued, oblivious to the implications of what he was saying. "He taught me how to cast a Patronus but then he tried to eat me, so…yeah. I know it wasn't technically his fault but he's kind of negligent you know? A werewolf teaching at Hogwarts has no excuse for forgetting his Wolfsbane potion."

"So you don't like Lupin?" Malfoy asked sensing a potential wedge. He wondered just how loyal Potter was to Dumbledore.

"I'm not too sure; I don't really know him all that well. Sirius too," he said and Malfoy raised his eyebrows. It was no secret that Black loved Potter like a son. He had thought that surely the boy would feel the same way. "He's my Godfather but sometimes I wonder if he's looking at me or if he's looking at James. And then I wonder if he's confused because of Azkaban or if he's just confused overall."

"Who knows," Greyback replied. "You should ask him." Malfoy noticed a bit of a slur to his words and wondered how much wine the werewolf had had. He felt a pinprick of anger. The last thing he needed was a drunk dog on his hands.

"I should," Potter agreed. "You'll have to kidnap him too so that we can have a heart to heart in the dungeon." The werewolf laughed but Malfoy was no longer listening. His eyelids felt heavy, he felt lethargic, and Potter's voice sounded funny. Like he was talking from far away, much further than he really was. Warning bells sounded in his head.

The blond Death Eater stood up and pointed his wand in the direction of the boy. But his vision was blurry, his senses dulled, and he felt so tired.

"What did you give us?" he half mumbled, half slurred. Malfoy couldn't see the boy's face but the triumphant note in his tone gave him more than enough reason to believe the boy was not as stupid or as insane as Malfoy had thought him to be.

"You Mr. Malfoy have been tricked," the boy said. He heard McNair tumble to the ground as he tried to stand as well. "You think I don't know that you would come for me? Please, Mr. Malfoy, I'm not stupid. And never take a drink from a Muggle. I don't need Magic to slip you a mickey."

At that point Malfoy tumbled back into his chair as his legs gave out. He fumbled in his pocket for the vial of general anti-poison. He uncorked it and downed it as Greyback fell forward onto the table.

"It won't work Mr. Malfoy," the brat continued. "It wasn't a potion I gave you and it wasn't poison."

"What…was it?" he hissed fighting to stay awake.

"A very liberal dose of Benadryl," the boy told him. "Very effective allergy medicine. It also makes you tired. I gave you enough to knock you out fast and for a long time. Normally it doesn't work this fast or this well but you have no tolerance for Muggle drugs."

He didn't hear the end of the sentence. He was out cold.


	2. Chapter 2

So, I got a lot of reviews asking for a sequel and for a more solid ending to this thing. I decided to go ahead and try to make it a full length story. Please let me know if you think this will work. This is totally an experimental chapter. If this fails, I won't continue. I don't want to ruin the part that was already posted as you guys seemed to love it so much. So please, honest reviews! Even if you gotta be mean.

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His head felt horribly groggy when he awoke. He could hear his own breathing, steady and deep, as he awoke from sleep. He would have liked to say it was unconsciousness-it would have been less embarrassing-but it was sleep. He felt rested, curiously enough. Groaning, he opened his eyes with a tremendous amount of effort and lifted his head.

He was in the dining room still. He had been lifted back into a sitting position but the plate of food was still there. So was the wine bottle-that damnable wine bottle. He vowed that if he was to make it out of this appalling situation he would never again touch a bottle of alcohol that did not come directly from his own secure stores.

A sudden snore caught his attention and he turned his head sharply to see the chained werewolf sleeping most comfortably in his chair, mouth agape and slightly drooling. Lucius sneered. The sight of the chains called to his attention that he too was bound to the dining chair but by rope. Glancing around again he found McNair, also awake, staring at him with slightly glazed eyes. When their eyes met the other man shook his head in disgust.

"Ooooooooooooooo," came a sudden voice, excited, "you're awake!"

Lucius turned in time to see Potter entering the dining room from the kitchen. He had changed clothes and was now looking like a proper Muggle Island boy. He wore khaki shorts and a garish shirt with a horrible design that was only half buttoned. He hadn't bothered with any shoes or socks.

"Let us go," McNair demanded. Potter smiled.

"No," he said simply.

"What do you want?" Lucius asked.

"To prove it."

"Prove what?" Lucius shot a confused glance to McNair but he didn't seem to know anything either.

"That I was right and Fudge was wrong, and that I am currently the most awesome boy Wizard alive," Potter responded with his now familiar sarcasm. "What else would I be so set on proving? Your innocence? The fact that Voldemort oh so cleverly cornered you into doing exactly what he wanted?"

Neither Death Eater said anything to that. It was very clear what Potter had just offered them.

"What do you want?" McNair asked, seething.

"Right now?" Potter asked conversationally at the exact moment Lucius heard a strange gong-like sound ring out through the house. It seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. He didn't know what it could possibly be but Potter seemed unconcerned. "Doorbell."

It was all he said to ease Lucius's confusion before he disappeared yet again. Lucius listened hard and heard the boy open the front door and begin conversing with someone. Someone female. It was all Lucius could make out. For some reason, he never even considered calling for help. It was most likely some Muggle at the door and the last thing he wanted was for a _Muggle_ to witness his humiliating demise. It didn't take Potter long to come back to the dining room still talking to whoever was at the door.

"Totally wasn't my fault that the Dementors decided to attack me," he was saying. "The Ministry should keep better track of its Nazguls and stuff, yeah?"

"Sure," came the uninterested reply. Lucius didn't recognize the voice but she sounded bored and faintly patronizing. It was as if she was far too used to Potter to bother with being bothered. But she became very interested when she stepped into the dining room and saw the three Death Eaters tied and chained to the chairs they'd been drugged in.

Her mouth formed a perfect 'O' of surprise and her eyes went impossibly large.

"Oh my god," she exclaimed loudly. Her hands flew to cover her mouth for a moment and then she dropped them slightly to continue with her shocked exclamations. "Harry! What did you _do_?"

"I have captured Death Eaters," he said unconcerned. "Think Fudge will believe me now?"

"I think he'll believe you've completely gone off the reservation!" she shouted still not taking her eyes off of the three men. "How did you-?" She didn't seem able to complete the sentence.

"Do you remember when I gave Ron some Benadryl to help with his snoring?" Potter asked and the girl nodded her head. "Remember how quickly it knocked him out? Cause he had no tolerance?"

"You captured three Death Eaters with an anti-histamine?" the girl replied, looking a little shocked.

"Yes I did, Mine-Mine," Potter replied and the girl (Hermione, Lucius remembered was her proper name) gave him a small glare at the unwanted nickname. "Even if I _was_ allowed to do Magic here, I am no longer allowed to cast Sleeping Spells on people. Not after what happened with Dobby and the pudding last Halloween."

Lucius felt his eyebrows crinkling in utter confusion over the last part of this highly confusing conversation, but the mention of his old House Elf and pudding left him wondering if he was missing something every important about Potter. The girl-Granger-just rolled her eyes.

"Have you told anyone about this?" she asked eyeing Greyback with a bit of trepidation. The werewolf seemed to be coming to and another half-minute, a few snorts, and some flying spittle later he opened his eyes.

"No I didn't," Potter responded, ignoring the awakening werewolf in their midst. "I was waiting."

"For what?"

"For you," he said.

"Me?" she asked, shocked. "What do you need _me_ for?"

"I sort of thought I might have given Greyback too much of the Benadryl and might have accidently killed him," the boy replied sheepishly. "I called you so you could help me drive to the hospital. But he's awake now sooo...nevermind!"

"Why wouldn't you just call Professor Lupin?" she asked incredulously. "He'd know way more about werewolves than me! And he'd actually be able to help you move him!"

"Yeah, but," Potter began with a distasteful look on his face, "Remus isn't really the kind of friend you call to help you move the body. He's the friend you hide it from."

"I will not help you hide a dead body," Granger replied jabbing a finger in Potter's chest which he immediately rubbed at.

"I know that," he said then swept an arm towards the three surprised, confused, and ultimately worried Death Eaters. "And as you can see they aren't dead."

"What exactly is your plan?" Granger asked one hand on her hip and one hand suspended in front of her as if she could conjure a good idea from thin air. Lucius, however, was pleased to note that the worst they would resort to was leaving rope burns on the captives' skin. This was probably both the most entertaining and least dangerous captivity Lucius had ever had to endure. Despite the Order of Phoenix constantly claiming that they walked the high road, they were still a militant group. They did what was necessary.

Potter looked like he was sucking on a lemon and his eyes darted wildly between his captives and his friend. When he didn't answer for half a minute, Granger raised her eyebrows.

"Harry!"

"I didn't!" Potter started wildly and then stopped to collect himself and continue calmly. "I didn't quite get that far ahead."

"I can't believe this," Granger said with a shake of her head, both hands now firmly on her hips and one sneaker stamping on the floor in frustration

"What?" Potter responded, exasperated. "It's not like there's a playbook for how to handle your Death Eater captives!"

"Call Dumbledore!" she demanded and he gaped at her.

"No!" he practically shouted.

"Why not?"

"Because he's being really pissy," Potter responded and Lucius and McNair exchanged glances. Greyback was still trying to shake the cobwebs out of his head. He had had a feeling that Potter and Dumbledore were somewhat at odds but he hadn't expected it to be this bad.

"What are you talking about?" Granger asked, confused.

"I mean," Potter stressed. "That he's all pissy with me and I don't know why. He totally stopped talking to me after I brought back Cedric and it's super annoying!" Granger got a strange look on her face somewhere between anger and utter confusion.

"Where are your relatives?" she asked clearly having nothing to say to Potter's statement and therfore decided to change the subject.

"Gone."

"Gone?"

Potter nodded enthusiastically.

"They, like, fled," he told her. "Movers will be here tomorrow morning which is also why I called you! I need your help getting these guys somewhere before somebody sees 'em and calls the police."

"Why not just let them go?" Granger asked.

"Yes," McNair cut in. "Why not just let us go?"

"Shut up!" both teenagers returned not caring for his opinion. McNair rolled his eyes but returned to his previous state of silence.

"I'm not through with them yet," Potter replied.

"What could you possibly need them for?" Granger asked.

"I haven't decided yet," Potter told her and she rolled her eyes in a grand show of exasperation.

"Harry you can't just hold someone hostage," Granger chided. "Not if movers are coming."

"Then what should I do with them?" Potter asked. Lucius was wondering the same thing. The two teens found themselves in an interesting quandary. They were unable to kill them, they didn't want to contact Dumbledore, and they _couldn't_ contact the Ministry. There was no telling what the two would decide to do with them.

"Um," Granger mumbled, clearly trying to buy herself some time before she had to actually come up with a solution to their problem. "If we called someone, who could we call? Inspector Reyna?"

"No, he's still mad at me for the Peanut Butter thing," Potter replied offhandedly and Lucius once again found himself wondering about Potter's mental facilities. And besides, who was Inspector Reyna? A Muggle, most likely, and probably someone of some sort of authority.

"You burn too many bridges," Granger chided. Potter ignored that comment.

"What about Papa Odie?" Potter asked and Granger's eyes widened dramatically.

"Are you insane Harry?" she practically screamed. "You can't just _take_ Death Eaters to Papa Odie! He'll kill them! He'll kill us!"

"Who's Papa Odie?" McNair asked sounding as confused as Lucius felt.

"Shut up!" both teenagers snapped in return.

"Harry that's a suicide run," Granger persisted but Lucius could see a look of resolve in Potter's features. He was planning on doing this suicide run. There would be no stopping him. Lucius prayed to whatever deity that might listen, _please, do not let me die in some horrible, embarrassing fashion_. It was one thing to be killed in battle with the Order defending your rights, family, and honor. It was quite another to be done in by two bickering Gryffindors and a Muggle allergy medicine. _That_ was the type of thing to ruin a bloodline.

"All we have to do is get them in the car," Potter insisted. "Then it's only, like, what? Thirteen, fourteen hour drive?"

"It's a ten hour drive," Granger corrected, "and you have a car?"

"It's Uncle V's company car," Potter replied. "They took the family one when they ran away. Grunnings won't miss it for at least another few days."

"Gas money?"

"Covered."

"And what about when Dumbledore's people totally realize you're gone? It'll be a man hunt!"

"They have absolutely no idea where we would even be going," Potter said. The verbal match was making Lucius's head ache and he was actually hoping they would just come to a consensus and be quiet. He should have realized that this little trip would be anything but quiet.

/

After nearly an hour of inane Gryffindor planning, he found himself squeezed into the back seat of one of those ridiculous Muggle carriages. He'd been one of these things before when he was going to some sort of Ministry function with an entourage. But this little 'company car' as Potter called it, was not easy to be in. The thing was small, bright blue, and had only two doors. Granger had to actually fold her seat almost completely in half in order to allow the three-still bound-hostages to get in the back.

Their ropes had been replaced by some sort of horrible grey material. It stuck to his skin by some sort of adhesive and already it was starting to itch. Once they were in the car, Potter bound their feet as well. Although, Potter had managed to secure Greyback's hands and feet with chains. Apparently, he knew just how strong werewolves could be this close to the full moon. He also strapped them with some sort of belt that came out of the seats of the car. Lucius didn't know what they were. They hadn't been in the car he'd been in before. All of this was done with the threat of Granger's wand. Not that it was much of a threat as the girl hadn't even completed her OWLs but it was the thought.

Lucius watched as Potter pulled open some sort of compartment in front of Granger's seat and slipped in their confiscated wands. He then closed and locked it with a key. With another key he started the vehicle.

Lucius had only been in a car very few times and he would never get used to the sudden rumbling and vibrations that came when the metal coffin was turned on. It sounded as if they were sitting in the belly of a beast. But Potter apparently wasn't interested in turning on the car as Lucius felt no vibrations. However, the lights inside the car came on.

"Okay," Potter said, as he snapped in his own restraint. Lucius didn't know why he was trying to tie up himself. It seemed utterly ridiculous. Perhaps those Muggle Studies classes really weren't so useless? Maybe if he had gone, he would know what was happening to him. He might have even been able to avoid this whole fiasco. "Which motorway do I want?"

Granger proceeded to read him directions from a map but Lucius couldn't follow her words even slightly. It was all letters and numbers. There was never any actual use of words or names. Apparently, Muggles preferred to use odd codes for their transportation needs.

"We probably want to take the M25 up to M1 and then take M18 to A1," Granger rattled off.

"Just tell me as we go," Potter said, his face already looking tired.

"Fine," Granger replied, annoyed. "But first you have to take me back to my house. I need clothes and stuff."

"That's three hours out of the way," Potter said, shaking his head. "I'll buy you what we need as we go." Granger didn't question the generosity. If it was generosity at all. Lucius didn't think it was; Potter just didn't want to spend any more time travelling than he needed to. Although, this information did make him wonder how Granger had gotten to the boy's home in the first place.

"Where are you taking us?" Lucius suddenly spoke up, his need to ask overwhelming his need to be quiet and figure a way out of this. He may be a grown man but he was a Pureblood. Even he could admit that they were relatively weak without their wands. He had to bide his time, get his wand out of that locked compartment, and take back control of the situation before it got any more humiliating.

"And why?" McNair asked. Greyback seemed content to settle in for a luxurious trip. He looked comfortable. In fact, he looked ready to nap. Lucius wanted to hit him but he was too scrunched into the horribly tiny back seat to move. Stuck between McNair and Greyback, the aristocrat was already horribly uncomfortable.

"You'll find out," Granger said as Potter pressed a white button on a black box attached to some sort of flap above his head. The wall in front of them began to move upwards. Lucius had never seen such a thing before and he was rather entranced, despite himself. Potter then turned the key more fully and Lucius felt the tell tale signs of the car coming to life. Once Potter had made it completely out of the little car shelter he pressed the white button again and the wall went back down. _Nifty_.

"Wait," Granger said suddenly and Lucius could tell that she had just been struck by a thought. "Do you even know how to drive?"

Potter turned to look at her as if she had just asked the most ridiculous thing in the world.

"A little late to be asking that isn't it?" he asked her.

"Do you?" she pressed. "I know you don't have a license. We're too young to get one."

Potter shrugged and Lucius felt his dread deepen at the sudden alarm on the girl's face.

"Well, I guess we're about to find out," he replied. He maneuvered the little stick between their seats around and suddenly they moving at a speed that Lucius knew was too fast. He could tell because Granger screamed.

"Harry!"


	3. Chapter 3

And the please continues have it! I'm glad you guys liked it so much and let's see how long I can keep you guessing with my plotline. Hopefully it doesn't get too nutty.

VVVVV

Apparently Potter was adept at controlling the car. After their initial burst of uncontrollable speed, the teen had laughed, straitened the car, and proceeded to explain.

"Sorry," he said. "Couldn't resist."

"You know how to drive?" Granger asked.

"Aunt Petunia made me learn so I could chauffer."

"She is really lazy."

"Yes. Yes she is."

The two of them lapsed into silence. The lack of noise hung heavily in the small, blue car. Lucius could barely stand it. Despite his training as a Death Eater and a Slytherin he was unable to fully squash the curious feeling inside of him. This captivity was just too interesting and things had just twisted too suddenly. He had to know. He had to find out.

"Who is Papa Odie?" he asked, suddenly.

"Nobody," Potter replied.

I'm serious Potter," Lucius said, trying to sound as intimidating as he could. He was tired of this already. The grey, sticky stuff Potter had used on his wrists was really starting to itch in a slow tortuous way and he was actually still groggy from the medicine Potter had used on them.

"So am I," Potter snapped back and Lucius could feel his mounting anger even from the backseat. "You'll see when we get there. Don't worry. I think you'll like him. He's a complete arsehole and likes to make fun of people."

"You just described yourself," Greyback piped up, showing a rare moment of humor. Granger snorted heavily clearly trying-and failing miraculously-to hold in a laugh.

"Shut up, fur-face!" Potter exclaimed.

"Oh, real mature Harry," Granger said, sounding a bit put-out for some reason. "Pick on the disenfranchised werewolf."

"Why are you defending him?" Potter nearly shouted, his voice high and sounding offended. "He's a Death Eater. And he totally started it!"

"Well, maybe he wouldn't have to be a Death Eater if the Ministry didn't pick on him!"

Lucius felt his eyebrows go up. Was Granger _actually_ defending the well hated monster, Fenrir Greyback, or was he hallucinating? Not that it was truly a surprise. Everything in the last twenty-four hours had been a strange and telling surprise. He didn't much like it.

"I can't believe you're actually going to lecture _me_ about werewolf rights. I'm the one who supported Remus when he got all guilt ridden about nearly eating four innocent people."

"There were five people there," Granger reminded him. Lucius was again, completely lost but he listened anyway. He wondered if they realized that their bickering was giving away valuable information that could possibly be used against them later when Lucius finally found a way to escape. He doubted it. They were Gryffindors.

"Snape isn't an innocent person."

"Really, Harry?" Granger asked, clearly annoyed. "Every year you accuse him of something super illegal, super immoral, or both, and every year he winds up being completely innocent. And sometimes he even saves your life."

"He's guilty!" Potter exclaimed, apparently adamant in his assessment of Lucius's old school friend. Potter was a stubborn one, then.

"Of what?"

"Of something dammint!" Potter shouted, agitated. "Even if I have to plant evidence I will prove he's guilty." Granger didn't even try to make him see the flaw in that logic. She just shook her head and leaned forward to the middle of the car. She pressed a button and the sounds of Muggle music filled the car. She pressed more buttons to find different kinds of music and Lucius realized she was fiddling with a radio. Although, it wasn't like any radio he had ever seen before. There was only one knob and it was really small.

An annoying song filled the car. At least, Lucius assumed it was supposed to be a song. He couldn't really tell. The voice wasn't singing, just speaking really loudly and he sounded very angry.

"No way!" Potter exclaimed. "Eminem came out with a new song!"

"Yeah," Granger said happily. "While we were at school!

"Turn it up!"

Granger complied and instantly the sound was deafening and Lucius felt the beginnings of a migraine. The music was so loud he could feel the vibration through his body. It hurt his chest and he felt as if he was going to have a heart attack. He had never heard something so loud. McNair looked just as uncomfortable as Lucius felt and Greyback looked to be in physical pain. His sense of hearing was too sharp for that type of stimulus.

Potter and Granger appeared completely unaffected. Song after song came and went and each one was more painful than the last. The two teenagers were singing along, raising their hands, and laughing. Lucius caught himself wishing for a Crucio. After nearly two hours of the torture, Lucius had such a horrible headache he felt physically ill. Thankfully, Granger eventually looked over her shoulder.

She then did something that made Lucius actually want to reconsider his position on the Muggleborns.

She turned off the music.

Silence filled the car again and he instantly felt the slightest bit better.

"Hey!" Potter exclaimed, clearly not happy with the sudden lack of noise.

"Look at them Harry," Granger said, and the boy took a quick moment to look over his shoulder before looking up front again. "Are you guys sick?"

"I think so," McNair admitted knowing there was no reason to hide it. Besides, if they weren't honest about it she might turn the music back on.

"Are you sick cuz the car?" Granger asked. "Some people get car sick when they sit in the backseat."

"It's the music," Greyback mumbled from where his head was between his knees. He was trying desperately to end the pain in his head.

"Oh!" Granger replied. "Harry, I think we gave them migraines."

"So?" he asked, not caring in the slightest. Granger looked at him beseechingly. "What?"

"They aren't used to music that loud," she said. "Pureblood eardrums are really delicate."

"So?" Potter reiterated.

"We should stop for some aspirin."

"Are you kidding me?" he asked, incredulous at the mere suggestion of stopping for whatever she was asking him to stop for. "They're Death Eaters! I'm sure they've suffered through worse."

"How do you know that?" Granger asked. Lucius couldn't help but think that she was a tad naive considering who her best friend was.

"I've seen Voldemort throw a temper tantrum, okay?" the boy replied. "It isn't pretty." Lucius winced at the name, at the pain, and at the memory of the pain the boy was describing.

"So?" Granger asked throwing the boy's own tone back at him. "Just cause the big, bad V likes to watch his own people suffer, doesn't mean _I _do. Besides, migraines cause nausea and I don't want to spend the rest of this trip smelling their throw up. Do you?"

There was a moment of complete silence.

"Fine."

Granger looked over her shoulder again and Lucius saw her smile like a jackal that had just cornered its prey. It was rather a scary smile. He was impressed.

VVVVV

Potter stopped at the next town. He hadn't been happy about it either.

"Can take a Crucio but can't take a frickin' rap song," he mumbled angrily as he pulled under the lit, metal canopy. "Purebloods are stronger my arse. Delicate little eardrums can't even take a few beats." The teen continued to mutter quite nastily under his breath until Granger finally snapped.

"Shut up, Harry!" she exclaimed. "Half of your closest friends are Pureblood so don't even pretend that you actually think that stuff."

"Those Purebloods are different," he argued.

"How?" she asked, clearly not believing he had an argument he could win with.

"I've trained them well." The girl didn't respond. She simply opened the door of the car and got out. Potter turned off the metal box on wheels and Lucius felt the seat instantly still. He had gotten so used to the vibration that it suddenly felt strange to not feel it anymore.

Both teens got of the car without another word to each other or to the captives in the backseat. They each slammed their doors as hard as they could rocking the small vehicle from side to side for a moment. Clearly they were at odds for the moment. Normally Lucius would use this moment to try to drive a wedge between them for his own benefit but he doubted that would work. If the two of them still had a friendship after all these years of bickering he doubted anything he said would matter much.

While Granger went into the small building, Potter stood by the back of the car. He fiddled with something and then put the metal end of a hose into the car. Lucius didn't know what he was doing but soon enough there was this absolutely horrible smell that drifted into the car making all three of them even more nauseous than they had been. This captivity was most unpleasant. He wished he could just Apparate out.

Not that they couldn't. It would be simple enough to just disappear from the backseat, bonds and all. But he would be leaving without his wand, without Potter, and without answers. Even if it killed him he would figure out this Potter boy. He would figure out the exact relationship he had with Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix. But most importantly he would soon know who it was that Potter ran to when he needed help. This Papa Odie character was someone Potter considered powerful enough to help him with Death Eaters. He trusted this man, as did Granger. Knowing who and where this man was could only benefit Lucius and his fellow captives.

This captivity might just be the greatest intelligence mission any of them had ever been on.

Disappearing now would mean leaving behind the elusive holes in the Order's defense and that was ultimately inexcusable.

The door of the car opened again and Granger slid into her seat. She started to fiddle with a big, white bottle that said Aspirin on the side in dark blue lettering. Eventually she got it open and removed two round tablets from inside. She pressed them into McNair's hands. She then put a bottle of water into his lap.

"Swallow those whole," she instructed. "Don't keep them in your mouth too long or everything will taste bad for an hour or so. And whatever you do, don't bite down on them."

"More Muggle medicine," McNair said distastefully.

"Muggleborns don't keep healing Potions at home," she said.

"Why not?" McNair asked, inquisitive despite himself. "Potions work quicker."

"It's illegal," she replied. Lucius was honestly surprised at that. He'd never known-nor really cared to know-what Muggleborns were allowed to take home. "We aren't allowed to take home fully brewed Potions and we aren't allowed to brew. We can have the ingredients as long as we're active students though. You'd be surprised at how much we have to leave behind in Hogwarts for the summer or keep hidden. Swallow."

McNair finally slid the pills into his mouth and quickly swallowed, grimacing at the taste. He opened the bottle of water and took a deep drink.

"Not too much," Granger said. "You three have to share that bottle."

She then gave two pills to Lucius and three to Greyback. The pills tasted disgusting but they were small and went down his throat with relative ease. Although, he could feel them going down into his stomach. It was a sensation he'd only had once before when his mother had forced him to eat oysters.

_A proper Pureblood is never caught off guard when it comes to the delicacies of the world_, she'd told him. He'd agreed with her of course, but oysters were a food he could do without. He'd rather eat like those Muggleborns at Hogwarts who put peanut butter, honey, and banana slices on bread and called it a proper meal.

By the time Greyback got the bottle of water it was only a third full and the werewolf finished the last drop. Granger took the bottle back and tossed it on the floor of the car by her feet. She then turned around as Potter climbed back into his own seat.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Yeah," Granger replied. "I already gave them the pills."

"Can I have the bottle?" he asked and she handed it over.

"What's wrong?" she inquired looking concerned, as a proper friend should.

"My scar's acting up," Potter told her. "He's all pissy again."

"Think it's because we have his Death Eaters?"

Only then did the three captives realize the two teens were talking about the Dark Lord. So it was true then. Potter could feel the Dark Lord through his scar. The Dark Lord had suspected something like this might occur but it had never been confirmed. At least, not until Lucius got the chance to.

"Maybe," Potter said and took four pills at once.

"Harry," Granger hissed. "That's too many. You'll fall asleep at the wheel."

"Then make sure I don't," he replied.

"Maybe we should just stop for the day," she said.

"And where do you suggest we stop?" he asked.

"Dean's house isn't too far from here," Granger said and Lucius was forced to conclude that they were talking about yet another Muggleborn. "And he said his parents are out of the house this weekend. A bunch of the Muggleborns will be over there anyway. He won't notice two more people."

"And what about them?" Potter asked, jerking his head towards the backseat. "Don't you think a house full of Muggleborns will freak out if we cart in three Death Eaters?"

"He has a basement," she said. "It's sorta like a dungeon, I guess, if you squint real hard and ignore the snooker table and pinball machine."

Potter took but a moment to think about it.

"Fine," he said and then turned the car back on. The vibrations went to Lucius's stomach immediately right along with the two Gryffindors' words. So not only were Potter and Granger going to witness this humiliating turn of events, but every other Muggleborn in Hogwarts was going to witness it too.

_Great_.

VVVVV

It took Potter fifteen minutes on the road to realize that something was wrong. Not that Lucius noticed before him. In fact, he was still a bit fuzzy on what might be so devastating. They were just Muggles.

"We're being followed," Potter said suddenly as he accelerated the car back onto the motorway as per Granger's directions.

"By who?" she asked, twisting in her seat to look out the back window.

"Black SUV," Potter replied. "The one with the Pegasus bumper sticker."

"Pegasus?" Granger asked, alarmed. "But Harry, that's _their_ symbol."

"I know," he replied.

"What's happening?" McNair inquired.

"Hunters," Granger said without any sort of further explanation. She turned back around and quickly withdrew her own wand from where she'd stashed it in her jumper pocket. "Can this little car even out run them?"

"No," Potter replied. "Do you have a mobile?" She nodded. "Call Dean and tell him that hunters are in area. If the Muggleborns are all in the one place they'll be sitting ducks. Tell him to get to Willow Point. We'll have to meet them there."

"What's going on?" Fenrir pressed as Granger pulled out a silver box-like device with a hinge from her pocket. She opened it up and pressed a button before putting part of the device to her ear. Apparently this was how Muggles communicated. Lucius was fascinated despite himself. He really should have gone through that Muggle Studies course like Severus had suggested. The dour man-then just a boy-had told him that if he was going to wage war against an entire race of people he at least ought to know what tools they used for war and communication. Lucius hadn't taken such things seriously then but he was taking it seriously now.

"You know how the Wizarding World separated from the Muggle World all those years ago?" Potter said and all three of them nodded. Granger continued talking into the device completely ignoring them. "Well, there was a group of people-Muggles-who believed that the Wizards needed to be eradicated in God's name. They were actually really good at tracking down and killing real wizards which is why Salazar Slytherin pushed for the separation for so long.

"When the veil between to the two world's went up the community went underground. For around the last thousand years they've been hunting down any witch or wizard they can find, usually Muggleborns. They actually have technology now that allows to them to track Magical signatures and spikes. It's rudimentary and doesn't often work but it works often enough. Last year alone they killed three Sleepers."

"Sleepers?" Greyback asked.

"Muggleborns who didn't accept their Hogwarts letters," Potter replied. "The Muggleborn population is a lot bigger than any Pureblood actually thinks. Only a fraction of them ever actually go to the Magical World."

"Why?" Lucius asked. The Magical World was far superior in many ways. Besides, Muggleborns had been fighting for equal rights for centuries. Why would so many of them turn it down?

"Do you have any idea how brave you have to be to walk away from your family, friends, culture, everything you've ever known and into a world that's completely foreign? And to do that completely alone, at eleven years old? There's a reason an inordinate amount of Muggleborns go to Gryffindor and it has nothing to do with Pureblood superiority."

The three of them had nothing to say to that. Despite the fact that Lucius didn't want to acknowledge whatever logic Potter might have on his side, he was willing to accept that there might be some aspect of the situation that he hadn't known about. He wasn't willing to give up what he'd been taught by any means but even he could admit he was beginning to learn something.

"Anyway, the hunters have clearly found us," Granger said, rejoining the conversation.

"Dean's leaving?" Potter asked. The girl nodded her head and then reached back around to the backseat. She used her wand-illegally-to cut the bonds around each Death Eater's feet.

"Be prepared to run," she said.

"Give us our wands," McNair demanded. "We can fight them better than you could."

"Who said anything about fighting?" Granger asked, a cocksure smile on her face. "We're going to run away."

"Is that the famous Gryffindor bravery we hear so much about?" Greyback asked. Lucius could easily tell he was teasing her. The blond aristocrat was positive that he would always hold a soft spot for the Muggleborn. After all, she had clearly stated she was for werewolf rights. And it was clear that both her and Potter didn't hold any prejudices against the Lycan peoples.

"Naw," she said a bit of her street accent coming into play. Lucius had heard it on other Muggleborns before. They had a very distinct slang. "It's Muggleborn preparedness."

"Always have an exit strategy," both her and Potter said simultaneously and they sounded as if they were reciting something. "Always be aware of your surroundings. Always sound the alarm. Always flight before fight. Never the hero, always alive. Gryffindors leave your bravery at Hogwarts, Hufflepuffs leave your timidness behind. Ravenclaws leave the contemplation on the desk, Slytherins set the politics aside. Now's the time to survive. So run away and live to fight another day."

"Where does that come from?" Greyback asked looking as if he was about to laugh.

"It's a song," Harry said. "From some underground Muggleborn rock band. Trust me, the verse is more famous than the band. Here we go."

Lucius looked over his shoulder in time to see the black SUV, as Potter called it, pull up behind them in a tremendous show of speed. The radio clicked back on and a different kind of song filled the car.

_A full moon shinin' bright_

_Edge of the water; we're feelin' alright_

_Back down a country road_

_The girls are always hot, and the beer is ice cold_

Lucius felt himself being thrown forward as the larger vehicle slammed into their back. He was absurdly grateful for the little belt Potter had strapped around him earlier. He suddenly realized that it wasn't a device for prisoners. It was to keep him strapped to the seat. And at the moment, it was the only reason he hadn't flown past the two teens and out the front window.

_Cadillac, horns on the hood_

_My buddy Frankie had his dad hook him up good_

_Girls smile when we roll by_

_They hop in the back, and we cruise to the river side_

Granger pressed a button on the door of her side of the car and the window began to automatically roll down. She then stuck her arm and her wand out of the window at the same time that Potter jerked the wheel and the car swerved to the left.

"Reducto!" they heard the girl shout.

_Never gonna grow up_

_Never gonna slow down_

_We were shinin' like lighters in the dark_

There was an explosion as her spell hit its mark. Lucius turned his head in time to see the front right tire of the larger vehicle explode in a brilliant show of light and fire. The larger vehicle began to swerve left and then right. It was clearly out of control.

_In the middle of a rock show_

_We were doin' it right_

_We were comin' alive_

_Yeah, caught up in a Southern summer, a barefoot, blue jean night_

The large, black car hit a concrete block on the side of the road head on, bounced back onto the main part of the road, and then flipped. It rolled over and over. Pieces of metal and glass flew in every direction and other cars were making loud noises. Granger ducked back inside and put her wand back in her lap before closing the window again.

_Blue eyes and auburn hair_

_Sittin' lookin' pretty by the fire in a lawn chair_

_New town and new to me_

Potter quickly maneuvered the car off of the motorway, constantly looking around him.

"There!" Granger shouted. Potter's head snapped to the right and Lucius quickly followed his lead. Yet another black SUV was barreling towards them at full speed.

"Shit!" Potter shouted above the music.

_Her ruby red lips were sippin' on sweet tea_

_Shot me in love like a shootin' star_

_So, I grabbed a beer and my ol' guitar_

_And then we sat around till the break of dawn_

_Howlin' and singin' our favorite song_

Their little blue car sped backwards at nearly full speed but still the black SUV hit them by their own front tire. The little car was no match and it spun right off the road and into the ditch sitting just under the motorway bridge. The three Death Eaters were jostled horribly and Granger let out a scream of pain.

The car gurgled and spluttered. Lucius even saw a few sparks.

_A barefoot, blue jean night_

The radio died but it didn't take the noise with it. There was a loud popping noise, almost like a bang even. Lucius didn't even know what it was. But Potter and Granger apparently did. Both teens rolled out of their respective sides of the car after opening their doors. It was a very fluid movement. Lucius could till they'd done something like this before.

"Reducto!"

"Stupefy!"

_BANG! BANG! BANG!_

"STUPEFY!"

"AVIS!"

Lucius watched as several small birds flew from the tip of Granger's wand and pecked at the eyes of one of the Muggle men who had come from the black vehicle. The man screamed and Lucius decided that now was his chance. He fumbled with the button on his belt and eventually got it to release him. Diving forward he quickly grabbed the keys Potter had left behind.

"Confundus!"

"Expelliarmus!"

"Stupefy! Stupefy!"

Soon enough he had that little compartment open and his wand was back in his hand. It felt good and he instantly felt the welcome rush of power and Magic as his connection was restored.

The scene outside of the car was something to behold. Potter and Granger had managed to disarm and render unconscious all four men from the SUV. The SUV was missing several large chunks here and there. The birds were still clawing at one of the men's fingers. Their own blue car was deeply scarred on one side and Lucius knew enough to know that it probably wouldn't be moving for awhile, if ever again. He doubted they would even be able to get it back off the slope it was resting on.

Standing at the bottom of the embankment was Potter and Granger. Each panting, each clearly tired after that display of highly illegal, under aged Magic. And each was basking in the fact that they had made it out of a fight relatively alright. Until they turned and were faced with three angry, unbound, and armed Death Eaters.

Potter froze when he saw Lucius's wand at his nose tip. Granger let out a gasp when she saw McNair's. Greyback seemed content to watch.

"No more games," Lucius said, his tone deadly and sharp. "No more Muggle medicine. This ends. Now."

"I won't go to Voldemort," Potter said. He didn't try to raise his wand to Lucius. He may have been able to beat the Muggles but he was no match for a Death Eater, much less three. Lucius grimaced at the name.

"I'm not asking you to," Lucius replied.

"What?" McNair snapped, looking confused. "What's that supposed to mean? Take him!"

"I'm sorry Walden," Lucius said. He could see the confusion on the teens' face. But he wasn't about to explain his end game now.

Lucius's wand snapped around toward McNair at the same time that the other Death Eater snapped his towards Lucius. But McNair never stood a chance. Before he could utter even a syllable, Fenrir Greyback stepped up behind him and drove his elbow into the side of McNair's head. The dark haired Death Eater crumbled to the ground immediately. Unconscious, he lost his grip on his wand and it skittered away into the ditch's debris.

All was completely silent as Lucius lowered his wand from Potter's face and pointed the tip towards the ground. The weight of what they had just done set heavily on the shoulders of the two remaining Death Eaters. It had shocked the Gryffindors into silence.

"We need to talk," Lucius finally said. And for the first time in a long time, he was sincere.

VVVVV

**A/N:** So, yeah. A lot of introductory elements in this one. Everything you guys just saw, the hunters, the chase, and Lucius and Greyback's betrayal will be fully explained. By next chapter they should make it to Willow Point-something else I'll explain and then from there we'll eventually reach Papa Odie. Be prepared for a rather odd ride.

Also, Dumbledore will show up in a few chapters. Promise. :)

I'm trying to keep them as in character as possible while at the same time completely going off the rails of canon. Let me know how I'm doing and I hope you all enjoyed.


	4. Chapter 4

**Sleepers: Muggleborns who didn't except their Hogwarts letters.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own**.

VVVVV

Potter looked confused. He opened his mouth, closed it, and then opened it again. He cocked his head to the right, straightened it, put his hands on his hips, scratched at the side of head, and then finally found words.

"I'm confused," he said.

"Aren't you Death Eaters?" Granger asked.

"Yes, we are," Lucius replied.

"Then what the hell?" Potter exclaimed pointing down to the unconscious McNair. "What's with the Benedict Arnold?"

"Wow," Granger said, sounding sarcastically surprised. "Where did you pull that reference from?"

"I remember some of the lessons from primary school," Potter told her and then looked at Lucius with an expectant expression. But Granger interrupted again.

"Can we please have this conversation to-go?" she asked. "The Ministry of Magic will probably send someone to investigate all the under-aged Magic in the area and I _really_ don't want to be expelled."

"Sure," Potter replied and the two of them immediately began walking away from the crash site and into the dense woods sitting just beside the motorway. Lucius and Greyback followed with some reluctance. They walked a quarter of a kilometer in silence before Potter suddenly stopped.

"I'm not going any further until I get answers," he said. "And not Dumbledore-like answers that aren't really answers but real answers. So give me answers."

"The situation is...complicated, Potter," Lucius said. Potter rolled his eyes.

"That's not a _real_ answer," he snapped. "I want a _reaaaal _answer." Granger rolled her own eyes at the extended vowel but didn't say anything. She seemed content to sit and watch. The two Death Eaters heard noises from where the crash had occurred. It sounded like a constant wailing and it made Lucius nervous to think that Muggle authorities were so close. But he still had his wand in his hand and that was all the comfort he would likely receive in this chaos.

"He's gone insane," Greyback finally said. Lucius knew exactly what the werewolf was talking about but Potter continued looking confused.

"Who?" the boy asked. "And if you say me I swear I'll punch you in your face."

"The Dark Lord," Lucius responded quickly before the boy could go off on a long winded tangent that would ultimately get them nowhere.

"Well, duh," Potter replied, a sour look on his face. "I could have told you that numbskull."

"Potter," Greyback snapped and both young Gryffindors seemed to snap to attention at the sudden and deep harshness in his voice. "The Dark Lord ordered me to kill half of my pack. He ordered Lucius to hand over his son. We both can only avoid those kinds of orders for so long. We need your help."

The blatant honesty and confession seemed to stun Potter into silence. Lucius made a note of that. Potter couldn't be thrown off by lies and manipulation but a heartfelt confession from an old enemy floored him.

"Why would he order you to kill your own pack members?" Granger asked hesitantly. She didn't bother asking why the Dark Lord would want Draco. That answer was fairly obvious, even to Potter.

"I have Muggles in my pack," Greyback replied. "The moon may not care for such discriminations but the Dark Lord _does_. This has gone too far."

"I agree," Potter said, finally finding his tongue. "Lord What's-his-name has lived for too long!" He suddenly straitened his back and pointed in a seemingly random direction. "To Willow Point!" He took a total of five steps before Granger called out.

"It's the other way Harry," she said. He turned on the spot and marched back the way he'd come.

"I knew that," he said.

"No you didn't," Granger told him with an amused smirk planted firmly on her face.

VVVVV

The half day's walk allowed them to talk for the first time since the whole escapade began.

Lucius told Potter and Granger of what was happening at Malfoy Manor. He told them of the curses, of the demands, of the Muggles who had been discretely kidnapped, tortured, and killed. Finally, he told them of the Dark Lord's sudden request to Mark Draco by the end of the year and how the gentle suggestion had quickly turned into an undeniable order. To deny was to die, as the Death Eaters had begun to say.

Then Greyback told them of the order to kill all Muggle and Muggleborn werewolves immediately. The werewolf had managed to postpone the order, even to ignore it for the most part, until a particularly vindictive enemy had thrown the Werewolf Underground under the bus as it were. The alpha was now trying to find a way to save not only his own life but those of his people as well. And the entire werewolf culture hung in the balance with that fight.

It was becoming plainly obvious to even the most dense of Death Eaters that the Dark Lord had lost his mind. He was not the man they remembered and spending so long as nothing but a barely living, bodiless spirit had left him without even a semblance of reality. He was moody, violent, and neurotic. His followers were losing faith.

"So basically," Granger said after a full five minutes of simply thinking of what they had told them. "Now is the time when his own people start to turn against him."

"Yes," Lucius replied. "All expect the most loyal. The Lestranges, McNair, possibly the Goyles. Everyone else is either beginning to pull out or keeping their options open on the off chance that he actually succeeds in his endeavor to conquer Magical Britain. I have my doubts at this point."

"I don't think the insanity your describing is completely due to the disembodiment," Potter said. Lucius was surprised that Potter could have such a serious interpretation of the events that the two traitors had described. "I think it's more from desperation. No serious Dark Wizard or Witch wants to serve a dude that couldn't match the power of a toddler. It's embarrassing and now he's overcompensating. He could be Napoleon if he were a midget."

"Napoleon wasn't a midget Harry," Granger said. "He was just on the short side of average. And the French aren't really known for their towering height anyway."

"Nope," Potter agreed in a chipper tone. "They're known for kissing, cheese, and socialism."

"Do you two ever focus?" Greyback asked, sounding put out.

"Sometimes," the two replied at the same time.

"We're best friends," Granger said as if that were to explain everything. In a way it did. Best friends weren't always the most productive when they were together. "Besides, you know what they say about the attention span of a Gryffindor."

"You mean that it's the only thing smaller than their lifespan?" Lucius asked recalling the old joke from his own school days.

"Exactly," Potter replied. "Now imagine all of the Gryffindors in one place, at one time. I'm surprised any of us pass first year."

"Believe me," Lucius said with a rather blank tone. "So am I."

"Back to the matter at hand," Greyback snapped. "What exactly is Willow Point?"

"Ever hear of Silent Hill," Potter asked.

"No," both Death Eaters replied.

"Oh, well it's a video game. And a movie but it was game before it was a movie so technically-"

"It's a story about a girl," Granger interrupted, "that was burned alive for being a witch and then dragged her torturers into a limbo-like hell. Remember the Hunters?" Both men nodded. "Well, whenever they catch a Witch or Wizard they burn them. They believe that by burning the flesh they can cleanse the soul of the person and wash away the touch of the devil. It's a load of crap and they're completely insane but they're good enough at what they do for us to be on the lookout."

"Willow Point is a place Muggleborns, Squibs, and any other person in need can go to be safe," Potter said. "It's really just an old Inn with some anti-Muggle wards around it. Nothing that would keep out a Wizard. People without Magic can go in if they have permission."

"So that's where we're going?" Lucius asked.

"Yes," Potter replied. "There's no Magic on the place that will make you shut up about Willow Point but I do have to ask you to shut up about Willow Point. It's safer as a big secret."

"Of course," Lucius said but refrained from promising silence. Greyback said nothing. Lucius caught the calculating look from Granger.

"You're probably not going to be all that safe at Willow Point," she replied. "The place is run by Muggleborns, many of them Sleepers, and they have no interest in being around a Death Eater. And a Slytherin Death Eater at that. Stay sharp if you don't want to be stabbed in the neck or pulled aside and beaten up."

"Thanks for the warning," Lucius said blankly, suddenly regretting his actions from a few hours before.

"Potter," Greyback said after a few moments of silence. "I've been wondering about your relatives."

"What about them?" the teen asked.

"Did they really just abandon you or did you send them away?"

"A little of both I guess," Potter replied. "I don't really want to talk about them right now. They aren't that important. If you really want to know about it all, you can read my book."

"You have a book?" Lucius asked, thoroughly surprised. If Potter had written a book it would have been all over the papers. Why hadn't he heard about it?

"Yes, I do," Potter said.

"It's not very accurate," Granger cut in.

"It is too," Potter replied, annoyed. To Lucius and Greyback he said, "It's called 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'. It was only published in the Muggle world as a fictional book and under a penname. It goes through the events of my first year at Hogwarts. I'm still working on the one for my second year. Oh! You're in that one!"

Lucius didn't want to be reminded of that year.

"Don't read the book," Granger said. "It reads like a grand adventure. It's listed in the fiction section and it belongs in the fiction section."

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" Potter asked, sounding offended.

"It means that you make it sound as if we stumbled on the answer out of pure luck," she snapped. "You also made Hagrid sound as if he can't keep his mouth shut."

"He can't," Potter said. "He's too nice and naive. And nobody wants to read about the meticulous research and all nighters we pulled trying to pass classes _and_ solve an unsolvable mystery. The details aren't nearly as fascinating as what I wrote."

"But it wasn't true," Granger insisted. "We spent six months doing nothing but checking alibis, researching magical artifacts with restorative powers, and doing surveillance on both Snape and Quirell."

Lucius was actually impressed by the stubbornness three Gryffindor first years could show in trying to defeat an enemy. But it did sound like a boring story to anyone who wasn't a Ravenclaw or Slytherin.

"You know what Hermione," Potter said. "Sometimes people just want to be entertained, not informed. Besides everyone who matters knows the truth and my relationship with my relatives was completely accurate."

"I still say the book's a load of crap."

"Just for that," Potter snapped, "I'm going to put you in the Hospital Wing for a few weeks with a cat face."

"Whatever!" Granger snapped and then walked further up the woodland path that they were following. She was clearly angry in that way only a woman could be. Lucius could tell that Potter was in trouble.

VVVVV

Willow Point was a rundown looking building that had once been off a main road. Clearly the town hadn't been a main point on any map for a long time. Now the road was full of potholes, the yard was overrun with weeds and rusting metal parts, and the outside of the old Victorian style Inn was crumbling and weather worn.

Lucius could feel the Magic humming around the Willow Point Inn. It wouldn't keep him out. It would not even keep out an untrained Wizard or Witch. It would only keep out those Muggle witch hunters. The ones they were running from. Lucius hated the idea that he was reduced to asking for the help of fifteen year olds and running from Muggles in a panic. This was not the life he had envisioned for himself.

"We'll be safe here?" Greyback asked.

"For the time being," Potter replied. "I still have to get you two to Papa Odie. He's the one that can keep your family and Pack safe."

"Once we get an update on the Hunters we'll leave," Granger said. "We'll only be here a day. Maybe two, tops."

Lucius simply nodded. He could handle a day or two in this place. He followed the two teens out of the woods, across the lawn, up onto the rickety porch, and into the Inn. The inside was nearly as rundown as the outside was. It was dark, dusty, and if Lucius wasn't a wizard he would have called it haunted.

"Hello?" Potter called out. The foyer echoed back the call. They waited for only a moment before another boy appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Hello Harry, Hermione," he greeted pleasantly despite the fact that his clothes and face were dirty; he looked haggard. He'd clearly been in a fight.

"Hello Dean," Granger greeted just as pleasantly. "Run into the Hunters then?"

"Yes," Dean said. Neither party had yet to move. "They caught us as we fled the neighborhood. There's something you should know before you pass the entry wards."

"What?" Potter asked.

"Headmaster Dumbledore is here," Dean said and Lucius repressed the urge to Apparate away immediately. "He beat you here by half an hour."

"What does he want?" Potter asked, sounding a little short.

"He was concerned about the sudden spikes in under-aged Magic. They popped up all over the country. Apparently, the Hunters have managed to corner several Muggleborns, most of them trained."

"And what does he expect to do about it?" Potter asked, still sounding short. "He's never interfered in the Muggleborn fight before."

"I wouldn't know," Dean replied. "He's talking to Inspector Reyna and several permanent boarders. They're waiting for the two of you."

"Us?" Granger asked.

"Yeah," Dean said. "You two better get in there. The talk is getting nasty."

"What's going on?" Greyback asked.

"They know about you," Granger said. "They're discussing what to do with you. Don't worry. You only need a few good words."

"Yeah," Potter said. "Good luck with that. Stay here. Don't move, don't talk to anyone, and try not to breathe too loud."

With that the two teens went up the stairs and disappeared. The other teen-Dean-simply looked at them for a moment and then he too disappeared down the hall.

They were alone.


	5. Chapter 5

Willow Point was quite the creepy place. As Lucius and Fenrir stood in the entry way they heard creaks, bumps, and whispers. Lucius wasn't sure where the whispers were coming from but they were thoroughly rattling him. It sounded as if there were people in the walls.

"How long do you think they'll make us stand here?" Greyback asked. Lucius would have shrugged if it wasn't such an undignified gesture. He settled for simple silence. Thankfully, Greyback followed his lead and didn't ask another question.

Lucius almost jumped at the sudden thump he heard to his right. The noise was just loud enough to penetrate his human hearing but Greyback followed noises that Lucius didn't have a prayer of comprehending. He watched as the werewolf's eyes grazed along the wall of the entryway, finally coming to rest on a spot just above the first step of the stairway.

"What's there?" Lucius asked.

"I'm not sure."

They decided to ignore it and then ignored each other. It was awkward to simply stand in the front entry for an hour with no idea of what was happening, what or who was in the house, and too insecure to speak to the only other person in sight.

It must have been at least a few hours before they heard a door open somewhere on the second floor. There was the briefest of moments where raucous debate could be heard before the door was closed again, pitching the house back into silence. Footsteps. Lucius unconsciously held his breath. He was in a place filled with what had been his enemies not but a few days ago. It felt like it had been longer than that.

The footsteps continued towards the stairs and eventually they saw Granger. She looked tired, frustrated, and maybe just a little bit shocked.

"Well?" Lucius asked when she seemed content to just stare at them from the top of the stairs. She sighed and quickly descended in order to stand with them in the entry way. This didn't seem good.

"Obviously no one really trusts your word," she said. "And Dumbledore is reluctant to grant you guys much mercy."

"Is there anything we can say?" Fenrir asked. She shook her head.

"They won't abandon your families to die," she said. "Dumbledore's people are cautious, not cruel. But you two specifically will probably be left on your own. Too much bad blood and all that."

It seemed like an expected outcome. Lucius didn't know who was up there, deciding the fate of his family but it made his skin crawl thinking there was nothing he could do, nothing he could say. If he had known that getting involved in this war-from any side-would have resulted in such helplessness he would have fled the country. And he would have drug Narcissa and Draco away with him kicking and screaming.

"It's not ourselves we're concerned about," Fenrir replied and Lucius had to literally bite his tongue in order to stop himself from objecting to that statement in some way. There was no way that the Muggleborn Gryffindor in front of them would find that objection as anything other than completely selfish and coldhearted. He wondered how people lived in a world of black and white, dark and light. He found the concept exhausting considering he'd been in a grey area since he was old enough to understand the concepts of trickery and bribery.

"Well good," she replied. "Muggleborns meet at Willow Point a lot. You'll probably run into someone you cursed or tried to kill at one point."

"So we can expect some retaliation?" Lucius asked. She nodded.

"Some people might be more forgiving than others," she told them. "But I'd be careful about which wall you put your back to. This place has more secret passages than Hogwarts." She gave a small smile at the uncomfortable look on their faces and quickly sprang back up the stairs. They didn't bother trying to follow her.

"Well that explains the whispers I heard," Fenrir replied. Lucius's eyes darted around, wondering which corner would be the safest to stuff himself into.

_Great_. _Why, oh why, did the Dark Lord insist on causing complete and utter chaos?_

It was rather inconvenient.

00000

The next person to visit them in the entry way of Willow Point was fully expected and utterly unwanted.

"Lucius. Fenrir," he greeted. Dumbledore sounded pleasant enough but Lucius wasn't fooled. The man was looking for a reason. _Any_ reason to draw his wand and personally cart them to Azkaban. There was an edge of steel in his voice that worried Lucius. He tried not to gulp.

"Headmaster," Lucius greeted, matching the man tone for tone. He had tangled with Dumbledore in the past. But that had always been in the Wizengamot and the Hogwarts Board of Directors where politics and back room deals were the weapons of choice. Here, in this place, the weapon of choice was a wand and Dumbledore could easily crush them into the dust with raw power alone.

There was a reason the Dark Lord feared this man. Lucius had no desire to personally experience that reason. But he was a Slytherin. He was compelled to play the game. At least, until it got too out of his depth. Then he would send Fenrir for Granger's intervention. The werewolf and the Muggleborn seemed to be developing a camaraderie and Dumbledore would never cast a spell on the off chance it hit her in this tight of quarters.

"Miss Granger and Mr. Potter told us quite the story," the Headmaster said immediately going to the matter at hand. "About their journey here."

"We can explain," Fenrir started but Dumbledore silenced him with the most intense glare Lucius had ever seen. He wasn't sure if there was magic involved or not but Fenrir's next words were literally trapped in his throat.

"Neither of them have the knowledge of your past actions that I do," he told them. "But they both seem intent on vouching for your current actions and motives. They seem to think you are simply looking for a way out.

"I, on the other hand, am reluctant to let you continue on as free men."

"This seems like a trick," Lucius said cautiously. "But it's not. The _thing_ that came back wasn't the Dark Lord that we signed up to serve."

"So you don't condemn past actions?" Dumbledore asked.

"I do not," Lucius replied. "I had a reason for what I did twenty years ago and that reason has not changed. However, I am willing to admit that the war of yesterday is not the war that is coming tomorrow. I-_we_-never agreed to genocide."

The old man eyed them, clearly thinking over what they had said.

"Mr. Potter insists that he can handle you on your way to Papa Odie," he said and both Death Eaters perked at the name. So Dumbledore knew who this person was too. And he seemed to think that Papa Odie was the best solution to their problem as well. Interesting. That could either be a good thing or a very bad thing. "Did you really allow yourself to be tricked into taking Muggle allergy medicine?"

Fenrir actually growled.

"We weren't _tricked_," the werewolf tried to insist. "We were ambushed."

"Mmm hmm," Dumbledore hummed and the slight twinkle in his otherwise hard eyes told Lucius that man was amused, just not enough to let his guard down.

"Potter is...good at distraction," Lucius said. He too was still smarting over the events that had started them on this rather insane journey.

"Yes," Dumbledore agreed. "He has always been rather good at Muggle trickery and distraction. I'm sure you've noticed the babbling? He is rather fond of using that to distract before he attacks. But you, of course, know all of this."

"Of course," Lucius said and he was positive that he wasn't the only one completely embarrassed by the situation they were in.

"Well gentlemen," Dumbledore said, suddenly sounding chipper and unconcerned. Lucius wondered if they had just passed some sort of trust test. He then wondered if Potter had picked up some tips from Dumbledore. He wouldn't be surprised. "I must be off."

He brushed past them and opened the door. But as he went through he turned to toss a parting shot over his shoulder.

"Try not to resurrect another genocidal megalomaniac while you're here or the next dose of Muggle medicine may just be a fatal one. These Muggleborns are rather fond of their lives and civil rights after all."

And with that, he was gone.

Lucius would have breathed a sigh of relief if he could find a reason to feel relieved.

00000

Ten minutes later and Lucius and Fenrir were still in the main entrance of the Willow Point Manor waiting for the next person to appear. They didn't dare move on their own. There was no telling what kind of traps Dumbledore and his people had laid down for intruders. After all, it was important to make sure that a safe house was safe.

Soon enough they heard footsteps.

A man they didn't know came down the stairs. He had light brown hair and eyes that almost looked yellow. He towered over the Pureblood but he was only a few inches taller than Fenrir. His blue jeans and hooded sweatshirt were purely Muggle. But the leather jacket and boots were made of dragon hide. He looked like a Muggleborn that Death Eaters lined up to fight and to prove their worth against. This man was a fighter, he could see it in the way he held himself.

"Hello," the man said when he reached them. Lucius could tell he was young, probably only just pushing mid-thirties. "I'm Inspector Reyna." He held out his hand for them to shake and they each shook it gratefully. Lucius because he was glad to cultivate any kind of ally he could and Fenrir because a human willing to shake the hand of a werewolf was a human worth knowing. At least in the eyes of a werewolf.

"Lucius Malfoy."

"Fenrir Greyback."

"Nice to meet you," the Reyna replied genuinely. Lucius wondered if he had been a Hufflepuff. He was very...nice. "Harry told me all about you. Well, I think. He went off about something else halfway through but I got the jist."

"You know Potter?" Fenrir asked. "He mentioned you earlier." Lucius remembered that as well. Granger had suggested calling this man when the two had been originally trying to figure out what to do with Potter's hostages.

"Yes," Reyna said. "I work with Muggle law enforcement. It's my job to keep Muggleborn's out of jail for incidents of accidental magic. You'd be surprised how often Harry's brought in for destruction of property."

Lucius felt his eyebrows rise of their own accord. How much accidental magic was Potter still doing? He was nearly trained. Those outbursts should have ended years ago, even for someone as emotional as the Boy-Who-Lived.

"Are you a Sleeper?" Fenrir asked curiously throwing out one of those new words they'd learned on their way here. Lucius had learned other Muggle slang from listening to Potter and Granger bicker but he wasn't entirely sure how to use any of that in the correct context.

"Yeah, I am actually," he replied and got an odd look on his face.

"What?" Fenrir asked.

"Nothing," Reyna replied quickly. "It's just that Purebloods and Death Eaters don't normally know what Sleepers are or ask about them." Fenrir shrugged. Lucius simply didn't have anything to say to that. The Inspector was right. He certainly hadn't known what a Sleeper was a few days ago, nor had he cared to know. "Anyway, follow me. I'll show you where you're sleeping and you can get come fresh clothes."

Lucius had to resist the urge to hug him.

That would have been horribly undignified.

00000

The Malfoy patriarch was glad he had resisted the urge to be grateful about clean clothes. Apparently, people didn't wear proper Wizarding attire in Willow Point. Reyna had scrambled around some boxes stored in a broom closet on the third floor pulling out pants, shirts, and jackets he thought might fit them.

Fenrir's new brown pants were so ill fitting they hung off his hips but fell short of his shoes by two inches. The short sleeved shirt the Muggleborn handed the werewolf was white and clearly meant for someone twice his weight. Fenrir was large but he was fit. And he looked ridiculous.

Not that Lucius looked any better. Reyna had found him blue jeans that thankfully fit but were ripped on one knee and the blue button up was missing the front pocket. The buttons on the sleeves were long gone and the Pureblood was forced to roll up his sleeves to his elbows in order to avoid flapping fabric at his hands.

There was no chance of them remaining in their old clothes. Death Eater robes would not go over well in a place like Willow Point. Besides, they were dirty and ripped almost beyond repair. Lucius wasn't good with sewing charms. It was best to just suffer in these clothes. Fortunately, the jackets-made of some black slippery, thin material Lucius didn't recognize-fit well and covered their Dark Marks.

The next disappointment was the room. Reyna led them to a small bedroom-barely the size of his closet at home-that had two twin mattresses on the old wood floor. The blinds on the single, small window were white and hanging in a precarious way. The wallpaper was peeling and there were stacks of junk piled along one wall. It looked like an unused storage room. Lucius wondered if they were being punished. It wouldn't surprise him and, in all honesty, they did deserve it.

"I know you're probably used to more," Reyna said. "But this is all we have to offer."

"I've lived in worse," Fenrir said honestly. Lucius didn't want to contemplate.

"I haven't," he said. "But thank you."

Reyna nodded.

"Dinner is in an hour," he told them. "Maddie's making lasagna. The kitchen runs on a strict meal schedule here but there's always fresh bread and beans for anyone who can't wait." With that, he was gone.

Lucius sighed and collapsed on the nearest mattress. This was not a life he was used to. At the risk of being bratty, Lucius wasn't built for anything other than luxury. He had never known poverty or hunger. He had certainly never been worried about bills or feeding his family. Muggleborns as a majority worked a little differently. As a people constantly trying to prove that they deserved their place in the Magical World while surviving in it, they were much more willing to work. Construction, cleaning, and repair jobs were all reserved for Muggleborns and their children.

A good many of them worked in the Ministry and even as Hogwarts Professors, sure, but Muggleborns were willing to sacrifice more than Lucius had ever been asked to. And now he was relying on them for safety. For life. He didn't like that.

Fenrir, on the other hand, seemed perfectly at ease. After all, he'd lived in worse conditions.

There was the sudden sound of raucous laughter in the corridor followed by a delighted scream. Lucius didn't recognize that laughter but it was young. It was then that he remembered Granger warning her friends about the Hunters closing in on all of them. He wondered how many Hogwarts students were here. Here because they were hunted no matter what world they were in.

He wondered how they did it.

Perhaps they really were stronger than the Purebloods he'd grown up around. The Pureblood he'd grown up to be.

For the first time, Lucius was something other than proud of the man he'd become.


	6. Chapter 6

Dinner turned out to be the most interesting and most atrocious thing Lucius had experienced as of late. When they got into the room they would be eating in Lucius found that a good many of Hogwarts's students had gathered there. According to one very helpful fourth year, there had been a gathering at Dean Thomas's home that day. At least twenty Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs-not all of them Muggleborn-had been there. Lucius found it interesting that the third member of Potter's famous little trio was not present. His parents must have the children hidden away somewhere being the active Order members he knew them to be.

There was no table in the 'dining room'. As it turned out Willow Point was owned and operated by a single person. Maddie. She was an eighty-six year old Sleeper with grey hair that stood straight up, a hunched back, and a walking stick that she used to hit people's ankles if they were annoying her or simply not getting out of her way. It was easy to miss her for she stood just over four feet. She was hard of hearing, half blind, and possessed a grand total of five teeth. Her wrinkled skin distorted the tattoo on her arm but Lucius would know it anywhere. She had once been a prisoner in Grindelwald's Muggleborn camps. He had paid enough attention to his History lessons to know exactly what that series of numbers and letters meant.

The tattoo also told him that she had been abroad. Grindelwald had never built a camp on British soil. She had either been held in Germany or Austria.

"Hey," Potter said, popping up beside him suddenly and startling Lucius out of his thoughts. He was holding a steaming bowl of beans in one hand and a slice of bread in another. "How's your room?"

"Fine," Fenrir answered when it become utterly clear that Lucius wasn't going to voice his opinion about their accommodations. He had been handed a plate of food a while ago and allowed to pick his own seat in the many chairs scattered about the room but he had only eaten a few bites. Maddie had clearly been able to cook in the past but he was starting to suspect that the pot of beans that was always present wasn't for sudden boarders who came hungry. It was simply the only meal that was edible. Lucius had personally never tasted cardboard but he suspected it tasted like this lasagna.

Potter had managed to find new clothes as well. He was in ill-fitting jeans, a plain blue shirt, and a hooded zipup that was an alarming shade of neon green. He couldn't see Granger. Maybe she had decided to escape the meal?

"How long will we be here again?" Lucius asked suddenly and Potter took a seat on the floor in front of them in order to eat his own meal.

"Just till tomorrow I suspect," he replied. "Hermione wanted to tear through the library."

"Why?" Fenrir asked.

"To try and figure out my dreams," Potter replied.

"Like in Divination?" Lucius asked. He had a hard time seeing Hermione Granger sitting in a smoke filled room, surrounded by crystals and worthless doodads, pouring over dream interpretation books.

Potter actually snorted in amusement.

"Not even close," he replied. "Hermione hates that stuff; says it's where the charlatans get their power. No, she's trying to find something about connecting minds inadvertently during Magical upheavals."

"Magical upheavals?" Fenrir asked. Potter nodded.

"Hermione thinks me and the big bad V had our minds linked and now whenever he's super cranky I see him in my head. When I sleep."

Lucius was put on edge by everything Potter had just divulged. He had known that Potter was feeling something through his scar and that that something was painful. He hadn't known that the boy was seeing through the Dark Lord's eyes in his sleep. Despite the general horror of such an implication, it was incredibly dangerous for everyone around Potter. If the Dark Lord discovered that connection he could easily reach through and possibly control Potter's thoughts, actions, and Magic. The Dark Lord had been dabbling in the mind arts for years and despite popular misconception there was such a thing as brain washing and mind control and it was infinitely more damaging than the Imperious Curse.

He suddenly didn't feel like eating anymore.

However, the enlightening yet horrifying conversation was quickly interrupted by the fourth year Lucius had talked to earlier.

"Hey Harry," he said sitting down next to Potter without so much as an invitation.

"Hello Colin," he replied. "Good holiday?"

"The trip to Italy was great," the kid replied. "I took loads of great pictures. I'll bring them to Hogwarts!"

Potter's eye twitched in annoyance but he smiled brightly anyway.

"Great," he said and Lucius was surprised at how sincere he sounded. Potter was a decent liar.

"It's too bad the Hunters came around though," Colin said. He looked genuinely disappointed but not at all scared or surprised about what had happened. Either he was used to it or he didn't fully understand the danger he'd been in. Lucius wondered how often Hunters found real Wizards and Witches. Surely it wasn't too often or they would have heard about it in the Wizarding World. Even Purebloods such as himself would have been interested enough to read about it in the Daily Prophet. A scandal like that-for it would be considered a scandal-would have made the front page. Why didn't the Muggleborns ever talk about it?

"Yeah," Potter said. "They caught up with us on the motorway. The car's completely totaled and they almost shot Hermione."

"We lost them in Dean's neighborhood," Colin said. "Most of us left on foot; the Purebloods left in a car though. They started panicking. Wanted to call the Aurors."

"They've been told to shut up?" Potter asked. Colin nodded.

"Why not just call the Aurors?" Lucius asked. Potter looked at him as if he was being particularly thick. He didn't get the look often-from anyone-so it was rather shocking to get it now.

"Because the Aurors will start fiddling with memories and when _that_ becomes clear to other Hunters," Potter said but instead of finishing the thought he just shook his head.

"What?" Fenrir asked. "What would happen?"

"War," Colin replied.

"War?" Lucius asked, incredulous. "Between who?"

"The Muggles and the Wizards," Colin told him with a tone that quite plainly said that Lucius should have known that all along.

Lucius didn't know what to say to that. Was such a thing even possible? Was that why the Muggleborns eventually retreated to one world or the other? Because it was simply too risky to continuously hop the veil? There was another question buried in his confusion but it wasn't him that eventually asked it.

"What sort of damage could the Muggles possibly do?" Fenrir asked. Potter and Colin exchanged glances.

"You should do some research," Colin began.

"About nuclear weapons and spy drones," Potter continued.

"Not to mention biochemical warfare," finished Colin and the two left at the same time. Almost as if they'd given such advice before.

00000

Lucius was wandering the halls late that night trying to work out his nervous energy when he heard whispering. His natural Slytherin instincts kicked in and he sidled up to the corner and listened. He recognized those voices. Potter and Granger and someone else.

"Where will you go?" Potter was asking.

"Somewhere safe," the vaguely familiar voice replied. It was young, likely one of the classmates. "Dumbledore is going to visit the Finnegan's tomorrow and ask them to foster me for at least the rest of this summer. We'll see after that."

"I'm so sorry Dean," Granger replied. "I can't help but think this is partly our fault. If we hadn't been on our way to you-"

"It's not your fault Hermione," Dean interrupted and Lucius could suddenly put name to face. This was the boy that had greeted them when they'd first arrived. The boy they'd been going to see. "The Hunters that came to my house came separately from the ones who found you. If anything it was my location that gave yours away, not the other way around."

"Still," she persisted. "I truly am sorry."

"Thank you."

"When will you see your family again?" Potter asked.

"Hopefully soon," he said. "I should be able to write to them if everyone's careful. But you know how the Hunters are. I'll likely never see them again."

Lucius was shocked. This boy couldn't be more than fifteen and he was talking about leaving behind everything as if it wasn't a hard thing to do. His voice was steady, he gave no indication that he was feeling anything. But Lucius also couldn't see his face.

"Stay strong Dean," Potter said and Lucius heard the sound of a hand clapping a shoulder. "We'll figure this out. One House."

"One People," the other two replied immediately. Lucius didn't hear anymore. He couldn't find the strength to listen to it anymore. These teenagers were Draco's age. What would Draco be feeling if he suddenly had to leave the Wizarding World, likely never to return? He couldn't imagine. He couldn't imagine what he would have been like if he'd been going through all of this at fifteen either. He wasn't strong, not like that. Lucius suspected he wouldn't be able to follow Potter's advice in staying strong.

00000

Potter was wearing his garishly colored Hawaiian shirt again. It was half unbuttoned and under the lime green jacket and Lucius couldn't help but cringe. The well bred Pureblood in him wanted nothing more than to burn the offending garments and force the ragged hairball into something befitting his status as 'the hero of the Wizarding World'.

He settled for a twitching eyebrow.

Lucius didn't dare broach the subject of what he'd overheard the night before with Fenrir. The werewolf wouldn't have many sympathies for Lucius's confusion on the matter. In fact, the Alpha would more than likely extend an offer to bite the poor boy and induct him into the pack. And Fenrir rarely took 'no' for an answer. The Death Eater eyed the boy he knew to be Dean cautiously that morning as the four them stood in the foyer and accepted goodbyes.

They were leaving earlier than expected. Granger was apparently done with her search of the library.

The now homeless Gryffindor stood with several other students, wishing Potter luck on their upcoming travels. There wasn't a hint of a tear but in his eyes Lucius saw a soul sucking sadness he'd seen many times when he informed a woman of their newly held widowed status. He was grieving. Deeply. But he was staying true to his House. He wouldn't cry until he was alone at night. If only Purebloods could be that formidable in the face of devastating loss they might have won the war. Despite popular belief, it wasn't Potter's survival of the Dark Lord that defeated the Dark army. They were already pretty much defeated which was why the Dark Lord had started to put an obsessive amount of attention on the prophecy. And because he'd met a nearly fatal defeat that night he was more obsessed with it than ever.

Lucius was still holding the opinion that it was all a bunch of complete bullshit and the only reason the Dark Lord lost his body that night was because he underestimated the power of a Muggleborn. Much like Purebloods often did.

"Ready?" Granger asked, sounding far too chipper for Lucius's tired mind. He hadn't slept at all. His thoughts had been firmly stuck on the children he was currently surrounded by and the child he'd left at home. The one he was sacrificing his closely guarded legacy for.

"Yes," Fenrir said and Lucius nodded just as Potter joined them with a large rucksack slung over one shoulder. Reyna and Maddie had managed to scrap up some clothes, money, and food for them. It wasn't much but Lucius knew it was all they could spare and he was struck by their kindness. He didn't deserve it-not from them and he was starting to regret ever agreeing to come to this place. He was starting to regret ever allowing Fenrir to talk to him into this defection. More than anything, he wanted the world to right itself again and quit hitting him with blows of reality. He didn't much care for this reality where these Muggleborns might be worth knowing and the Muggles were a legitimate threat to the safety of their world.

The four of them left Willow Point and began walking along the unused road. Lucius didn't know where they were going but he was glad to be putting Willow Point and its Sleepers, whispering walls, and meals of beans and bread behind.

00000

They were arguing again.

He didn't know about what and he was too tired to participate. Even to tell them to shut up.

"It was an honest concern Harry!" Granger was saying when Lucius tuned back into their conversation. Apparently they were arguing over a broomstick Potter had received in his third year. A gift from his godfather. He had no idea how the subject had even come up. "For all anybody knew, Sirius was a coldhearted murderer."

"So you tattled on me?"

"I had to!" she defended. "You would have jumped on that thing without a single test!"

"The test flight was the test!

"The test flight could have killed you!"

"There were no bad spells," Potter defended. "The test flight would have proven it."

"That's the stupidest logic I've ever heard."

"Logic of any kind isn't stupid Hermione. Logic is logic."

"You should have been a Slytherin."

"The Sorting Hat tried," Potter said. _That_ perked Lucius's previously unattainable interest. Potter a Slytherin? He knew the boy to be sneaky but politic, sly, cunning? No.

"Then why weren't you sorted to Slytherin?" Fenrir asked curiously breaking into their conversation.

"Have you seen the view from Gryffindor Tower?"

Lucius couldn't tell if he was joking or not but knowing what he did about Potter the boy could have easily been swayed by the location of the respective dormitories before their quality.

"No," Fenrir answered honestly. "I have never been inside Hogwarts."

"How'd you get your wand?" Potter asked.

"The Knack off Knockturn Alley," Granger answered immediately and everyone turned to look at her. Potter looked as if he wanted her to elaborate. But Lucius and Fenrir were both looking at her for a very different reason. As a Gryffindor, a Muggleborn, and a friend to Albus Dumbledore there was absolutely no reason for her to know where to get an illegal wand. Not at this age at least. Not even Draco knew where to get an unregistered or smuggled wand. How did she?

"What?" she asked knowing by their faces that she had probably said something she shouldn't have.

"How do you know where to buy an illegal wand?" Lucius asked. Every other word out of these kids was a surprise. It was rather exhausting.

"I have eyes," she responded very defensively.

"And I have four eyes," Potter told her, "but I don't know where to buy an illegal wand."

"You could have eight eyes not know where to find the broadside of a barn," Granger threw back.

The two of them descended into an argument about each other's faults. Lucius noted that it was nothing too personal and it was nothing that one couldn't catch after the most passing acquaintances such as his own. He had known for years that Granger was a know-it-all and that Potter perpetually stuck his nose in other people's business. He didn't need their bickering to figure that out.

Nonetheless, he listened as they walked and by noon he was approaching exhaustion-mentally and physically.

"Are we going to walk to Papa Odie's?" Fenrir asked. Lucius had been wondering the same thing but didn't have the energy necessary to attempt to pry an answer out of Potter.

"No," Granger replied. "We're walking to the train station. We should be there by five and the train will leave about nine and we'll be there in the morning."

"An overnight train?" Fenrir asked and for some unsightly reason he sounded excited.

"Yes," Granger told sounding just as excited. "Maddie knows the owner of the train company and he keeps a compartment reserved just for Muggleborns going to see Papa Odie. We get to ride for free."

"Where are we going?" Lucius asked. "You never did tell us."

"You didn't need to know," Potter replied cryptically and Lucius had to reign in his sudden urge to punch the brat in the face. That would have been very unlike a gentleman and as the Malfoy patriarch he was expected to be a gentleman even in captivity, even amongst the lower ilk. Although, the more time Lucius spent outside of his own circles the more he began to feel as if there was more to the Wizarding culture that parlor talks and evening balls hadn't allowed him to see.

"Why would Muggleborns see Papa Odie?" he asked changing tactics and hoping to gain a little more insight into who they were about to see.

"Papa Odie's a god."

It was said so blatantly and so confidently that Lucius was shocked into thinking it was true. He didn't dismiss it immediately as Potter playing a joke due to the fact that the boy gave none of his usual smirks, winks, or giggles.

"What?" Fenrir finally said voicing both of their thoughts. "Are you insane?"

As a Pureblood, Lucius was inclined to believe in the supernatural that existed in the other realms. He had grown up with stories and rituals concerning the Gods. In fact, his mother had been a devout worshiper of Sulis. Many Dark families were. Lucius himself had no patience or time for such things as religion. He was far too busy with duties in the mortal world to worry about something such as that. He didn't much care for what would happen to him after death. It was his legacy he was truly concerned about.

"Only sometimes," Potter said cutting into the Pureblood's thoughts.

"Papa Odie isn't a god," Granger said. "He's a wizard. Kind of."

"Kind of?" Fenrir pressed. "What do you mean kind of?"

"Papa Odie isn't a wizard like us," Granger told them. "He practices the Old Magics. You know, those rituals and ancient spells that people haven't seen since hundreds of years before Hogwarts was even a thought. He's _that_ kind of wizard."

"How would he even know such things?" Lucius asked, mind whirling. If he practiced Magic as old as Granger said he would have to be a member of an ancient family. A family older than even the Slytherin line the Dark Lord hailed from. He called on his knowledge of the Pureblood families. Which ones were old enough and unbroken enough to still have such knowledge? He couldn't think of anyone.

"Well I think he created most of it," Potter said.

"Excuse me?" Lucius asked, once more confused.

"You didn't think the Dark Lord was the only one to hold the curse of immortality did you?" Granger asked, a knowing smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye that Lucius had come to recognize as her way of letting them know that she knew something they didn't and was happy about it.

"He's immortal?" Fenrir asked, his eyes bugging comically. Lucius couldn't tell if it was because he hadn't known that the Dark Lord really was immortal (most thought it a rumor) or because he was surprised that Papa Odie was immortal.

"Yeah," Potter replied. "He won't let you forget it either."

Granger rolled her eyes.

"How do the two of you know him?"

"Oh!" Granger said, excited to tell them everything she knew. Lucius-for once-was interested to hear it. "Every Muggleborn takes the journey to Papa Odie before they reach adulthood. It's a very special rite of passage for those of us with wands. He does a ritual that blesses the wand and protects it from evil spirits and creatures. It's supposed to give us the strength to withstand a lifetime of Magic and war."

"All Muggleborns take the journey?" Fenrir confirmed and the girl nodded.

"Yes," she said. "Every year a seventh year Muggleborn personally pulls aside each Muggleborn first year to teach them about their people. The battles, the struggles, and the traditions. It takes about a month to get started and after that each person decides their own level of involvement. Some like to become fully centered in the community and others prefer to have nothing to do with it."

"So not _every_ Muggleborn takes the journey?" Lucius asked.

"Oh, no, I guess not."

"Most do though," Potter replied. "And a fair amount of halfbloods as well. At least those primarily raised by a Muggleborn parent."

"You've taken the journey?" Fenrir asked. Potter nodded.

"I was approached by Hermione," he said. "In second year, just after the Chamber of Secrets was opened. A lot of Muggleborns relied primarily on each other for support and they pretty much closed ranks. She wanted me to know why."

"I'm being groomed," she spoke up somewhat randomly.

"For what?" Lucius asked.

"Leadership," she replied. "The Muggleborns are very loosely organized. Between the Sleepers and the trained it's very difficult to get people focused on achieving one goal with a universal method."

"Universal method?" Fenrir asked and Potter snorted.

"Hermione's little group believes in non-violence," he said. He had yet to truly look at them. Instead, he was leading the three of them on their walk along the road. They had finally reached a road that was both usable and used, though not busy.

"There's no need to kill Purebloods to get our full rights Harry," she responded coolly. "That's wrong."

"I didn't say it was right," he said but Lucius could tell he was sitting somewhere in between choosing whether violent methods were right or wrong. He knew that inner struggle well.

"Back to Papa Odie," Fenrir interrupted sensing a debate they probably didn't want to have on the side of a Muggle roadway. "What's his story?"

"Papa Odie was born a Muggle," Potter told them and by the sudden life in his tone Lucius could tell that this subject was much less stressful for him. "He was born a long time ago, nearly five hundred years before Hogwarts was built."

Lucius's mind staggered. If that was true-which he truly did doubt it was-that meant Papa Odie was probably close to two thousand years old. To think he used to believe that twenty-five was ancient.

"They say he went mad after a terrible battle in ancient Scotland," Granger continued. "I think that part is pretty much true but Dumbledore insists he's just eccentric."

"Dumbledore knows him well?" Lucius inquired remembering the old man's brief mention of the mysterious figure at Willow Point.

"I would say so," Potter said. "Professor Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald were both Papa Odie's students at one point. But that was a long time ago, back when Papa Odie ran Willow Point."

"If Odie was born a Muggle," Fenrir went on, insisting they focus, "how is he doing Magic now? How is he immortal?"

"After the battle I told you about," Granger replied, "Papa Odie ran into the woods and became lost. There he met a woods god and was granted some of the power of the Earth. Or so the legend goes. He won't talk about it anymore."

"Papa Odie was the first Muggleborn of Britain," Potter said and once again Lucius felt his mind boggle. He'd heard legends of Magic and their beginnings in Britannia but never a story such as this. "All the wizards before him had brought Magic with them from Mesopotamia. They were the country's original Purebloods."

"Meso-what?" Fenrir asked stumbling over the new word. Lucius didn't know what it meant either.

"The first civilization," Granger said quietly, her mind elsewhere.

"Anyway, he created a lot of the old spells, rituals and potions unique to our country. He also has the ability to tell the future. He prophesized his own death and instead of running from it or trying to prevent it he ran headlong to it. They say Death was so impressed he refused to take him. Considered him a man worthy of the gift of eternal life. Not that Papa Odie was ever grateful for it though. He keeps saying how excited he is to die."

"He's sounds interesting," Fenrir said politely. Lucius didn't have a response.

"What's his real name?" he asked after several minutes of silent walking.

"What?" Granger asked.

"Papa Odie," Lucius clarified. "What is his true name?" There was no way that a man older than Hogwarts itself had been born with the name of Papa Odie. That was preposterous and there was something about the story Potter had just told him that tickled at a memory in Lucius's head. He'd heard part of this story before. Or overheard it. In Hogwarts.

He recalled it now.

He'd been thirteen and sneaking back to the dormitory after a snack in the kitchen when he'd walked by an abandoned classroom and overheard several other students speaking in whispers about an old legend. They must have been Muggleborns.

"He's so old," Granger said. "History and legend calls him a lot of different things."

"Like what?" Fenrir asked.

"Lailoken and Myrddin Wyllt are a two of the more well known names from ancient literature," Granger said.

"But the Purebloods know him very well by a different name," Potter interjected and even though Lucius could only see the back of the boy's head he could easily tell that Potter was about to enjoy revealing something that they probably should have known all along. Every Muggleborn in the country seemed to, not to mention a good sprinkling of half-bloods and even Dumbledore himself.

"What name?" Lucius asked, unembarrassed by the evident hesitation in his voice. He wasn't sure he wanted to know.

Potter finally stopped and turned to face them fully. Everyone else stopped too and Lucius didn't even need to look at Fenrir to know that the werewolf was anxious to find out what Potter was about to say.

"Merlin, of course."


	7. Chapter 7

The train station was dark by the time they reached it. Lucius could immediately tell that this particular stop wasn't a main one; there was one bench, the waiting area was outside, and most of the lights weren't working. They were the only people there and the Pureblood felt uncomfortably exposed. The night had turned cold and Lucius was forced to zip the jacket he'd been given but the thin, flimsy material couldn't keep out the biting wind.

A storm was coming in and if they didn't get out of it they could easily get sick. The last thing he needed was a cold. Fenrir looked just as miserable as did Hermione who was also wearing borrowed clothes. Potter had pulled up his hood and the contrast between the green and his hair was striking enough to cause attention. Lucius forced himself to look away from the two and focus on the rampant thoughts running through his head.

_Merlin_.

Lucius didn't believe Potter's ridiculous story for a second and he felt an inexplicable anger towards this Papa Odie character. Who could be so callous as to allow a rumor of that magnitude to continue? And why didn't Dumbledore put a stop to it? He didn't consider the fact that Dumbledore couldn't put a stop to a rumor that was true, even if he wanted to. But it seemed impossible for Merlin-_the_ Merlin-to be alive. And yet...the Dark Lord was alive despite all odds and all Magics.

His head hurt and it wasn't because he had yet to eat that day. He looked over at Potter as the boy sat down on the bench and started searching through the bag they'd been given. Soon enough he came back with a plastic container filled with what Lucius recognized as the famous beans from Willow Point. He was hungry enough to not be completely disgusted by the thought of eating cold beans in a nearly abandoned train station.

_How far I've fallen_.

All he could really think about at the moment was home and what the House Elves had cooked up for tonight's dinner. Something infinitely better, he was certain.

"Mr. Malfoy?"

He snapped his head towards the sound of Granger's voice. Her arms were crossed across her chest in an attempt to ward off the cold. Her grey jacket was buttoned, the threadbare pink shirt underneath offering no protection against the sudden wind. She was looking at him with some amount of concern but he couldn't tell if it was genuine.

"Yes?"

"Are you alright?" she asked. "You haven't eaten all day. Want some beans?" He couldn't help but smile a little at her kindness. In fact, he marveled at it. Hadn't he once tried to kill her and all the other Muggleborns? Shouldn't she hate him? He knew he would.

"I could eat," he said politely knowing he could never even fake wanting the beans. Potter had already handed a fork to Fenrir and the two of them were sharing the container. When the boy saw them approach he reached into the bag and pulled out another plastic container.

"There's forks in the front pocket," he said and Granger went about pulling out the appropriate items. She handed him a plastic fork and he felt the full impact of his circumstance as he stood there sharing cold beans with a Muggleborn. He wondered if his life would ever go back to what it was. He may not wish to go back to the Dark Lord but his life as a Pureblood Lord hadn't been bad. Balls and banquets, gowns and jewels, and champagne and caviar seemed like an unattainable dream at this point.

He shivered again. He wished the storm would just come already; the cold was beginning to pierce into his bones but he never even thought to cast a warming charm. He didn't even register the oddness of this particular cold until Potter suddenly sprang from his spot on the bench, wand in hand, and a panicked look on his face.

"What's wrong Harry?" Granger asked. And that's when Lucius heard it.

The small, lingering screams of people he'd hurt and people he'd watch be hurt. Muggles mostly from the days Death Eaters would walk into small villages or onto farms and slaughter everyone there. He only heard these screams when Dementors were around. How long had they been following them?

"_Expecto Patronum_," Lucius barked, his voice calm and his mind ignoring the screams reverberating in the back of his skull.

_Fight it_.

A lizard poured smoothly from his wand and calmly waited by his foot as his eyes tried to pierce the thick darkness around them. The thick trees across the tracks shifted and he heard the tell tale cracking of tree veins breaking as the water inside them froze and expanded. Flinging his wand up and forward the lizard sprang from the platform and hurled straight into the trees. They heard an inhuman shriek and then silence.

After several minutes of simply waiting, Lucius felt the temperature begin to rise. Within minutes it was too hot for his jacket and he stripped out of it, not caring that it fell to the ground.

"It must have been following us," Fenrir said, also noting the sudden upswing in the night's temperature. The Dementor must have been getting steadily closer over the last couple of hours for the two Death Eaters not to have noticed it. They had worked around them often enough in the last war to know the effects that the Dementor brought with it. Either someone expected Potter and Granger to be as well versed as they were, or that Dementor had been after them. He wondered how quickly McNair had managed to tattle on them. Probably as soon as he'd awoken.

"Harry, how did you know it was there?" Granger asked. Lucius recalled Potter reacting first. How had he known?

"I heard her scream," he said, his breathing was uneven and it occurred to Lucius that a Dementor was probably a bad thing for the kid to be around. It was likely to cause him more pain than it would someone else. "I heard my mother scream."

The silence was definite.

Until the train whistle blew.

00000

Potter had been right about them having a compartment of their own. Unfortunately it wasn't much of a compartment in Lucius's opinion. He had travelled by overnight train before. Purebloods did it all the time for leisure but _those_ compartments had beds, chandeliers, and fireplaces. This compartment had two sets of bunk beds bolted to the metal walls and were so close that Lucius was genuinely concerned about Fenrir's ability to move around.

He settled himself on one of the bottom bunks leaning back so that his shoulders rested on the wall and his face was shrouded by the shadows. As the train began to move again Fenrir sat next to him and the two teens sat down opposite them.

"Where is the train going?" Fenrir asked again. Lucius didn't know why he was asking for the umpteenth time considering they had yet to tell them anything. Trying to pull concrete information out of these Gryffindors was like pulling teeth. But to his surprise Granger finally deigned to answer.

"Aberdeen," she said as she stood up and pulled open a small door to an even smaller cupboard near the exit. On the inside was a small mirror and the girl used it in order to see her hands work her hair into a braid.

"Seriously?" Greyback asked dubiously. "Merlin lives in Aberdeen?"

"No, just outside of it," Potter replied not picking up on the werewolf's tone at all. "In an abandoned motel off of an unpopular motorway. Papa likes his privacy."

"Huh," was all Greyback had to say to that. "Is there a particular reason we couldn't just Apparate there?"

"Papa Odie's wards wouldn't allow it," Granger said. "Besides, you don't _Apparate_ to the motel. That's just not how things are done."

Lucius didn't bother to weigh in on the conversation. He was still feeling the effects of the Dementor despite the Muggle chocolate candies Potter had passed around. He could also feel the effects of exhaustion. He had barely eaten, barely slept, barely stopped moving and fighting for days. All he wanted to do was sleep a full night. He didn't want to talk about Merlin or anything else that was happening.

"How are things done?" Fenrir asked and Lucius knew he was genuinely curious.

"Muggleborns walk to Papa Odie's," Potter told them. "It's a pilgrimage, you see."

"Yes, you've mentioned that," Lucius said. "So the train is for emergencies?"

"Yep," Potter said. "Muggleborns-especially Sleepers-run to Papa Odie when Purebloods start killing people. It happened during the last war, with Grindelwald, and all those other Dark Lords with a complex."

Lucius snorted. It was mainly to remind everyone that there were, in fact, two Death Eaters in the compartment no matter how traitorous they may be. Both Potter and Granger seemed to realize it as well. Potter immediately clamed up, figuring that it was a terrible idea to tell these two people how anything in their world worked. Lucius didn't want or need to be responsible for any secrets the Muggleborns had. He was likely to be captured and brutally killed before the year was over.

The kindness and help the people of Willow Point had given to them was not something either Lucius or Fenrir actually deserved and the both of them knew it. Lucius didn't want to see the place decimated. So he willed Potter and Granger to just shut up.

Thankfully, Granger was as quick on the uptake as always.

"We should go to bed," she said, closing the cupboard door, locking the compartment door, and finally turning to face them. "Tomorrow we see Papa Odie. We should be rested for that."

Nobody said anything but everyone complied.

00000

The station they arrived at was just as dinky and rundown as the one they'd left. The morning was bright, warm, and if Lucius had been an optimist he would have taken it for a good sign. But today he was going to walk into a Muggleborn compound with a powerful man that even had Dumbledore fooled. Whether or not he was _really_ Merlin didn't much matter at this point. The situation was dangerous and no amount of good omens would quell the rolling of the stomach as he watched Fenrir down the rest of their beans.

Potter and Granger led them off of the platform and soon enough they were following a winding, narrow dirt road through the woods west of the city.

"Is this actually Aberdeen?"

"Not really. But it's pretty close. We're on the edge of Cairngorms National Park," Potter replied. "Werewolves run around these woods a lot so Fenrir should be alright for the full moon." Fenrir looked a little surprised at the mention of his impending transformation. Lucius doubted the man had fully forgotten the coming full moon but it certainly wasn't at the forefront of the other man's mind.

"Good to know," the werewolf said.

They walked for a while in silence. The sound of breaking twigs and Potter's suddenly labored breathing were the only things that connected Lucius to the world. He was buried in his head, as he seemed to so often be of late. There was nothing left to say; his life would never be the same and he was struggling to understand the terms under which his future would take place.

His thoughts were interrupted when Fenrir suddenly stopped, turned around, and growled. Lucius also turned and the two teenagers immediately had their wands in their hands.

"What is it?" Lucius whispered trying to follow Fenrir's gaze towards whatever may be there. All he saw though was woods, underbrush, and dirt. There was nothing there.

"I don't know," Fenrir replied his body relaxing and the tension draining from his body nearly as quickly as it had come. "Nevermind. Just an animal."

The werewolf turned away and the group took it as a sign to continue along. Granger's wand was stored away but Potter walked with his still gripped tightly in his fist. The girl kept glancing at him as if he would suddenly topple into the dirt and Lucius was wondering if perhaps Potter's scar was hurting him again. He wondered how painful it was. Was it a minor ache or the equivalent to a migraine?

He didn't ask.

"Are we close?" Fenrir asked a few hours later when they stopped for a quick break. They didn't have any more food or water and Lucius was starting feel thirsty to the point of being uncomfortable. He was legitimately worried that by the end of the day they would all be dehydrated.

"Maybe another hour," Granger said. "Everyone ready to push on?"

They continued and by nightfall they had reached the end of the little dirt path. It opened into a clearing that had been meticulously cleared of tree sprouts, weeds, twigs, and other forest litter. In the center sat a single wooden post that must have been ten feet tall and six feet in circumference. On the ground surrounding the post was a ring of river rocks. They had been polished and each one engraved with an ancient rune symbol. Lucius immediately recognized a few. One said water, another said reincarnation. The rest he couldn't see or couldn't understand.

Granger and Potter led them across the clearing and through the thick woods on the other side. There was no path here and they carefully had to pick their way through the waning light. But soon enough they stood at the edge of the woods and Lucius got a good view of Papa Odie's current home.

The parking lot was cracking apart and grass, weeds, and shrubs were growing up. The two story, abandoned motel was a faded and dirty sky blue; part of the roof on the east side of building had crumbled in. There was a large battered sign at the bottom, west corner that read 'Office' in faded red letters. The sign hung from only one chain and blew softly in the wind. There were two lawn chairs beneath it, both occupied.

As they crossed the parking lot towards the office, Lucius got a good look at both of them. The man nearest them was lanky, perhaps starved. He had the trace of muscle mass but the muscles themselves had long disappeared. He hadn't bothered to wear a shirt in the heat and Lucius saw a tangled web of tattoos covering every inch of his torso and arms. He couldn't tell what they were from this distance but he knew that there was hardly any skin left.

The man had brown dreadlocks that reached to his bottom ribs. His blue jeans were ragged and dirty. His boots were propped up on the steel fire pit in front of him. He was puffing away on some sort cigarette.

The other man was just as clear to him but he was honestly surprised to see him there. When their little group drew level, it was the second man Lucius greeted first.

"Severus."


	8. Chapter 8

If Severus was surprised to see them there, he didn't show it. In fact, the Head of Slytherin merely nodded a greeting to Lucius and turned a harsh, and perhaps unnecessary, glare on the two Gryffindors. Potter simply glared right back and Granger ignored the both of them in favor of the tattooed man.

"Papa Odie," she greeted. "This is Lucius Malfoy and Fenrir Greyback."

"I know," he said and slipped a pair of black rimmed sunglasses over his yellow eyes. "I've heard stories about the two of you."

Lucius wasn't sure what to say in reply. There was very little chance that what Papa Odie had heard was good so Lucius didn't bother to reply to him. He simply turned back to Severus.

"What are you doing here?" he asked him. Severus was a Death Eater. No matter how sketchy his allegiance may seem, he had no business being there. And neither did Lucius or Fenrir but they didn't really have much of a choice.

"I live here," was the curt and slightly annoyed reply. Lucius raised his eyebrows at him. He had been to Severus's home on several occasions. Had he only been going to that house for appearances sake? How long had he been spending his time in a ramshackle motel with a man who thought he was Merlin?

"Since when?" Fenrir asked, just as curious.

"Since his mama dropped him off and disappeared," Papa Odie cut in, taking a long drag on whatever it was he was smoking. Lucius could tell by the smell of the smoke that whatever it was wasn't tobacco. "What are _you_ doing here? That's the better question."

"They tried to kidnap me," Potter replied. "They failed." He smiled, perfectly content with himself, and wholly unaware of the five piercing gazes directed at his person.

"And now they need protection," Granger continued when it appeared that the boy wasn't going to actually finish the story. The Gryffindor girl launched into the full timeline of events since she'd arrived at the Dursley home to their arrival at the train station. Papa Odie and Severus both listened without comment and without so much as a facial expression. The only movement either man made was when Papa Odie would raise the cigarette to his lips and pull the odd smelling smoke into his lungs. And even though the sun was starting to set, he left the dark lenses over his eyes.

"That's quite the story," the tattooed man said when the bushy haired girl finally stopped talking. "Harry, take them upstairs. Get them a room."

"Yes, sir," the boy said, surprisingly compliant. He motioned for the two Death Eaters to follow him and they did. Granger elected to stay behind.

00000

"So this is where you'll be staying," Potter said as he opened a door on the second floor. Room 206. It was as dilapidated as the rest of the motel but the windows were clean enough to see through, the two full sized beds were made up, and, judging by the constant drip from the sink, there was running water. It wasn't Malfoy Manor but it was better than sleeping in the woods.

"Potter are you sure Papa Odie is really Merlin?" Fenrir suddenly asked. Lucius could appreciate his complete lack of control when it came to his curiosity. Normally Fenrir was nightmare to have around but with Gryffindor teenagers he was appropriately direct.

"Of course," Potter replied happily. "He's a little weird but you have to remember he's also kind of ancient. Mostly everything bores him. He's seen it all, done it all, and really just doesn't care anymore. Expect when it comes to the Slytherin family. He hates those people."

"Why?" Fenrir asked and Lucius nodded in agreement. That was an interesting tidbit. Why did Papa Odie hate the Slytherins?

"I don't really know," Potter told them with a shrug. "Something about Salazar Slytherin, a strange tasting bottle of mead, and a mermaid. He doesn't like to talk about it."

The answer, in typical Potter fashion, brought up more questions than it answered but the boy didn't stick around long enough for even Fenrir to continue inquiring.

"Well, see you guys later! Dinner's in about an hour!" And with that he was out the door, slamming it closed behind him, and leaving them in a musty half-light.

The two refugees looked at each before Fenrir shrugged.

"I still think this was all a bad idea," Lucius said as he sat on the bed.

"Better than watching the Dark Lord behead my werewolves," Fenrir replied adamantly. "Besides, you were the one so worried about the kid."

"_Draco_," Lucius emphasized, "does not want or need the life of a Death Eater."

"Sure," Fenrir said offhandedly as he opened the closet door to see if anything was inside. The closet was stocked with clothes and Lucius joined him to see if there was anything they could change into. He could feel the hum of Magic and knew immediately that the motel was not what it appeared to be.

The Pureblood found a decent pair of slacks, a short sleeved button up, and an old pair of dragonhide boots. The clothes were all old and secondhand but they were clean, there was no suspicious rips or stains, and considering the circumstances he couldn't ask for much more. Fenrir procured himself a pair of blue jeans, t-shirt, and trainers. He looked like an overgrown teenager in Lucius's opinion but he didn't bother to comment.

"This place feels weird," Fenrir said, peering out the window to the parking lot.

"What do you mean?" Lucius asked. He'd long ago learned to trust the instincts of a werewolf when it came to sensing something 'weird'.

"I've never smelled Magic like this," the alpha told him quietly, concentrating on whatever it was he was sensing. "There's something...something rooted."

"Rooted?"

"Yes, something rooted. Like it doesn't want to let go. Like it can't let go."

"You can _smell_ that type of stuff?" Lucius asked, quite amazed despite himself. He'd known for decades that werewolves could sense things humans couldn't. Things about the nature of Magic, a person's intent, and even things pertaining to the spirit world. It took time and practice to have a nose like Fenrir's but Lucius had never thought he could sense what he was describing.

"Yes," the werewolf told him. "It's usually always too faint to sense but _here_ it's obvious. It's weird."

Lucius didn't have a reply. What could someone say to that? Was there something weird, Magical, and unknown in this place? It was very likely. The structure in the clearing just beyond the parking lot was proof of that.

If Potter and Granger were right and this place really was some sort of safe haven for Muggleborns there was little wonder that it would feel off. What kind of Magic did Papa Odie practice? Potter had said it was the Old Magics. Was that was Fenrir was sensing? He didn't know. And quite frankly he wasn't sure he wanted to.

00000

When the two of them went back to the fire pit they found that extra chairs had been pulled out and someone had lit the coals. The sun had set and Lucius smelled the undeniable smell of cabbage. Lucius procured the chair immediately to Severus's right and felt the flimsy, wooden thing sink a bit. He wondered if he would find himself on the concrete by the end to night. Fenrir sat next to him in some sort of folding cloth chair and seemed perfectly content.

There were two plastic bowls sitting on the fire pit and Severus nodded at them to indicate the two men could take them. Lucius grabbed the nearest one and dug in without regard to manners. Nobody paid it any mind.

Potter and Granger were engaged in a deep conversation with Papa Odie about animagi and shapeshifters and how to tell the difference. Lucius caught something about silver but didn't bother to tune in.

"Is what Potter said true?" Severus asked him in a low tone and both refugees turned towards him. Lucius swallowed before answering, his good breeding not entirely absent.

"Yes," Lucius replied. "We've left the Dark Lord. Is that why you are here?"

"No," Severus replied. "Like I said, I live here."

"Potter said Papa Odie didn't like Death Eaters," Fenrir chimed in, his voice just as low. This wasn't entirely a conversation for Gryffindor ears.

"I am an exception," Severus replied with a frustrating smirk. Lucius rolled his eyes.

"Severus, really," Lucius admonished. Severus smirked even deeper and pulled down the sleeves of his black pullover, hiding the Dark Mark.

"My mother brought me here when I was thirteen to protect me from my father," Severus told him and Lucius recalled the other man telling him something about his father being an alcoholic. "I never saw her again."

"So you've been living here ever since?" Fenrir asked, intrigued. Severus nodded.

"Papa Odie took me in permanently when it became clear she wasn't coming back for me," he said. "He kicked me out when I joined the Death Eaters."

"And now?" Fenrir pressed seemingly oblivious to the fact that he was asking deeply personal questions. Severus didn't seem to care though. In fact, he seemed perfectly at ease in his lawn chair with his bowl of cabbage and pork.

"After Potter destroyed the Dark Lord, I convinced Papa to take me back," Severus said. "I've been here ever since."

"Are you still loyal?" Lucius asked. It was the only question of any relevance in his mind.

"Not to the Dark Lord," Severus replied, stonily.

They were interrupted by loud laughs from the other people at the fire pit and Severus took it as an opportunity to divert his attention.

"Severus," Papa Odie asked, smiling widely. Lucius saw his teeth for the first time and found his eyes glued to the diamonds embedded in the man's bottom teeth. "What was the Potion called again? The one that makes you see purple?" Potter giggled at whatever that was supposed to mean and Lucius felt out of his depth yet again.

"The Yert Potion, Papa," Severus responded. "I'm not making it for you again."

Lucius wondered what that story entailed. It sounded rather interesting but the subject changed right after that.

00000

Despite the cloying exhaustion weighing down on him, Lucius could not fall asleep. He stared up at the ceiling and listened to Fenrir snore four feet away. He wondered if all the other rooms were uninhabitable. He could really have used some privacy at that moment.

Dinner had ended on a rather tense note when Potter and Severus had exchanged thinly veiled threats and insults, both glaring and angry. He had no idea what had sparked the sudden flame of animosity if anything. Regardless, the atmosphere had quickly become awkward and everyone parted ways. Except for Papa Odie that is. He'd remained in his chair, smoking another strange smelling cigarette, and staring off into the forest as if waiting for more people to make their way to his motel.

When Fenrir gave a particularly loud snore Lucius gave up. This insomnia was becoming rather bothersome but he sat up, pulled on his boots, and shirt and without bothering to button it up, he left the room. The cool night air was pleasant on his skin and he breathed in deeply, savoring the freshness and the smell of trees. He leaned his arms on the railing and stared at the sky above the forest. The stars were highly visible in this part of the country and the moon was nearly full. Fenrir would be shifting within a day or two.

It was beautiful and pleasant. It made him miss home. He wondered if Narcissa was worried. There was a good chance she wasn't. That was just the type of wife he had. He sighed and tried to clear to his mind. It was all this thinking that was making sleep difficult to come by.

He closed his eyes and focused on the soft sounds of wildlife. But as he waited for sleepiness to come he heard a loud barking sound. His eyes sprang open just in time to hear a door bang open beneath him and in seconds he saw Papa Odie sprinting across the parking lot, his dreadlocks flying behind him and a fire poker in his hand. Lucius thought it an odd sight and followed.

There was no one else about and Lucius ran down the stairs and across the pavement to where Papa Odie had disappeared in the trees. He heard the other man crashing ahead of him through the foliage and followed the sound trying to make as little noise as possible. He soon found himself in the clearing they'd passed earlier that day and felt the sudden pressure of Magic. It felt like it was coming from the wooden pole and he again wondered about its purpose.

For the moment, he ignored it and pushed on. The barking continued and Lucius was positive that Papa Odie was trying to find the dog making the loud and ferocious noises. He could no longer hear the other man but he continued towards the sound of the dog and he eventually came across a creek.

The water couldn't have been more than two feet deep but the creek was wide and fast. This must have been where the stones surrounding the wooden pole had come from. The second Lucius had made it to the edge of the water the barking had ceased. But the growling continued and Lucius found himself face to face with a large black dog.

A flash of teeth told him that the dog was angry. Lucius's heart pounded and he slowly pulled out his wand from where he'd stashed it in his back pocket. The animal looked absolutely feral. His hackles were raised, his eyes were glinting dangerously, and he was pawing at the ground as if ready to charge. With only a shallow creek separating him from the animal, Lucius felt utterly exposed.

But the vicious creature never charged. Lucius wondered why but never had a chance to arrive at a conclusion. Papa Odie took that moment to spring from the trees at a dead run. The fire poker launched through the air and sailed over the water in perfect arch, imbedding itself in the bank just between the animal's front paws.

The dog made a sound between a bark and a whimper, backing up slightly.

"You aren't welcome here!" Papa Odie shouted. "Now stop that noise, you flea ridden mutt!"

The dog barked several times, as if delivering its own insult. With a couple of swishes of its tail it turned and trotted back into the trees. Lucius's heart still pounded.

"What was that?" he asked knowing instantly that what he had just faced was no ordinary dog, feral or otherwise.

"Well, it wasn't the Grim," Papa Odie sneered. "What are you doing out here? These woods are dangerous this close to the full moon."

"I heard the dog," Lucius responded lamely, feeling like a child caught out of bed. Papa Odie eyed him and Lucius could hardly stand the piercing yellow gaze.

"That was no dog," Papa Odie said. "That was an animagus."

"Who is he?" he asked following the tattooed man back into the trees.

"Just some Pureblood," Papa Odie said. "Thinks he has a right to be here when he doesn't."

"What did he want?"

"Doesn't matter," Papa Odie told him and Lucius knew immediately that the matter was dismissed. "He can't get in anyway. I barred him from the wards a long time ago."

Lucius wished to question further but Papa Odie changed the subject.

"You know, we don't normally let Purebloods into the motel," he said. "Especially when they're Malfoys. Have a bit of bad blood between me and your family."

"Really?" Lucius asked, interested to the point of forgetting about the animagus completely.

"Yes, a great-granddaddy of yours once tried to kill me with a well placed asp," Papa Odie said and he sounded deeply amused. "It failed, of course, and I removed his testicles. I haven't spoken to a Malfoy since."

He had no idea what to do with this information. He'd never heard of this before and he was starting to understand just how _off_ Papa Odie really was. Potter had called him eccentric and weird. Lucius was inclined to say insane. They walked in silence until Lucius felt the crunch of broken gravel beneath his feet. And suddenly the words poured out of him quicker than a Hufflepuff first year.

"Fenrir is convinced that there's something weird about this place," he broached. Papa Odie actually stopped, which made Lucius stop as well wondering if he'd just signed his own death certificate.

"What has Harry told you about this motel?"

"Nothing," Lucius replied. "He only told us a few things about Merlin."

"I am Merlin," the other man said, his eyes narrowing dangerously. Lucius knew Papa Odie wasn't someone to bait or contradict, but for some unsightly reason he did anyway.

"I'm not so certain," Lucius told him coldly. It was the honest truth. He still wasn't sure _who_ this man was.

Papa Odie didn't deign to answer.

"This motel," he said and pointed to the ground, "feels weird to the werewolf because of its history."

"History?"

"Fifty years ago a group of hunters came when this was just a field and burned a Muggleborn witch. When the original owner of this land built the motel it became a safe haven for hunters. They would come here between jobs, compare notes, and whatnot."

"What happened?" Lucius asked, recalling the caved in roof.

"I came for them," Papa Odie told him coldly. "They never stood a chance."

"Is that what Fenrir is feeling?"

"Yes," Papa Odie sighed and seemed genuinely sad. "He's feeling the echo of that night. When a place is exposed to that type of violence, it doesn't just go away. It lingers. When you start mixing Magic into that you can amp up the echo to a level even a mortal can feel. When you have a place like Hogwarts, you get actual ghosts. Here there's just an echo."

"Do Potter and Granger know about that?" he asked. Knowing what he did of the two of them, he could hardly see them granting their approval of Papa Odie's story. In fact, Granger would be inclined to do something about it. He may not know her well, but he knew her well enough to know that.

"Of course they do," Papa Odie snapped. "Everyone knows that story. It's hardly a secret. What are you doing here anyway? With the two of them?"

"Potter brought us here because he thought you could help us," Lucius said honestly. "Can you?"

"It's not a matter of whether I can help you," Papa Odie said. "It's a matter of whether I want to. You're a Death Eater. You're going to have to work hard to prove yourself worthy of any kind of protection from me or any of my children."

"_Your_ children?"

"I'm two thousand years old," Papa Odie said incredulously. "I've had quite a few families in that time."

"How big is your family?"

"Big enough to be the difference between your life and your death," he bragged. "Death Eaters have a tendency to fall back to Tom even after they've sworn their independence. I don't expect much different from a Pureblood like you."

"I'm not doing this for _me_," Lucius insisted. "This is about my son. My family has done enough. I've done enough." He wasn't entirely sure what he meant by that but he was surprised at how deeply he'd begun to change in these few days. But in all honesty, he was deeply tired. Tired of running, fighting, killing. He didn't want this life for Draco. He wouldn't wish this life on anyone. There was no more moral cause in any of this. It was now about revenge and Lucius wasn't willing to sacrifice everything for another man's vendetta.

"Fine," Papa Odie snapped. "Potter wouldn't vouch for you but Hermione seemed to think I should take a chance on you. Now, I understand the deep satisfaction it would bring to finally prove her wrong at _something_ but don't, or I will kill you. Understand?"

"Yes."

"Good. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to smoke and go to bed." The man pushed past him and walked alone to the motel, disappearing into what had been the office.

Lucius briefly wondered what kind of twisted satisfaction the immortal got from living at the site of a massacre he caused. It reminded him of the Dark Lord.

And _that_ disturbed him on a level he didn't want to think about.

He didn't want to run from the clutches of one psychopath and straight into the tattooed claws of another.


	9. Chapter 9

"You attacked Snuffles!"

Lucius wasn't sure what Potter was screaming about just outside of their door but he deeply wished the boy would stop. Unfortunately, Potter was determined to get some sort of answer and burst through their door with such ferocity that it slammed into the wall. Lucius was fairly certain it would leave a dent.

"You attacked Snuffles!" the rabid looking child continued, waving around a bit of parchment as if that was supposed to tell Lucius anything.

"What?" he finally mumbled, raising his head up just enough so that he could comfortably prop himself up with his elbows.

"You attacked-"

"Who is Snuffles?" Fenrir cut in before Potter could finish the same sentence for the third time.

"He's my," Potter started and then cut off. He calmed down slightly as he tried to figure out how to finish that sentence. "Dog."

"You have a dog?' Fenrir asked.

"Are you talking about what happened last night?"

"What happened last night?" Fenrir asked. He didn't enjoy being out of the loop. Lucius was enjoying the fact that for once he knew what Potter was talking about without having Granger explain it all first.

"Yes! You attacked Snuffles!"

"Technically, Papa Odie attacked Snuffles," Lucius sneered. "All I did was follow."

"So now you're just an innocent sheep following the immortal?" Potter sneered back.

"Potter," Lucius started not sure how to finish. Draco had never had a pet and therefore, Lucius had never had to have any conversation about being mean to a pet, whether the fault was imagined or not.

"Don't be mean to Snuffles," the boy ended.

He started to turn to go but Fenrir stopped him.

"Wait! How did even know that they attacked Snuffles?"

"We didn't attack the dog!" Lucius defended outright refusing to use the dog's ridiculous name. "It was snarling at the boundary line."

"Don't lie," Potter said. "Snuffles said Papa Odie threw a fire poker at him!" The boy waved around his piece of parchment again.

Fenrir eyed it as if Potter was about to turn it into a weapon. And then his eyes crinkled in confusion as Potter's words caught up to him.

"Wait," he said waving his hands in front of him as if to stop time long enough to let him catch up to what was happening. Lucius knew the feeling well. "Your dog wrote you letter?"

"It's not a real dog," Lucius told him. "It's an animagus."

"Your dog isn't a dog?" Fenrir asked, a rather stupid look coming onto his face. Either he was having a very difficult time following the conversation or his head hadn't cleared of sleep. Possibly both.

"It doesn't matter!" Potter shouted his fist closing around his parchment. "Don't throw things at Snuffles!"

A brief movement in the still open doorway caught Lucius's attention. Granger was leaning against the frame, arms crossed, hair going every which way, and looking far more amused than he thought appropriate.

"So who is Snuffles?" Fenrir asked, ignoring Granger completely.

"None of your business."

Lucius rolled his eyes and said, "Oh, c'mon Potter."

"You don't deserve to know the identity of the SNUFFLES!" the boy shouted, his voice reaching a crescendo on the last word. The force with which it was shouted coupled with the pure, unadulterated anger in his voice made Lucius lean back a little as if to get away. Fenrir looked just as surprised and stared after the boy silently when he turned and marched out of their room, past Granger, and disappeared.

The girl watched them a moment and smiled.

"Breakfast is ready," she said. "You'll want to eat your fill. Papa Odie has chores for us."

"Chores?" Lucius asked. He had never done a chore in his life. What could a man like Papa Odie possibly have for them do that couldn't be done by House Elves or a wave of a wand?

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy," Granger replied. She was trying to be respectful, truly she was, but it still came off as condescending. "Chores."

Then she too disappeared.

Lucius looked at Fenrir, a disdainful look on his face.

"I don't know how to do chores," he admitted, hoping that Fenrir would be able to offer up some sort of solution.

"Better learn quickly," the alpha shrugged, reaching down to pull on his boots. Lucius rolled his eyes. Really, was it so much to ask that Fenrir have some sort of sympathy?

00000

Breakfast was a wide expanse of food.

Lucius hadn't known this, but the motel actually had a fully functioning kitchen and dining room. There were around twenty or so tables crammed into the room, each one different but each one in fairly good condition. No single chair was the same. According to Potter, the coffee pot was an industrial sized one Severus had stolen from a Muggle conference room some years ago.

The coffee wasn't the nice, expensive French roast he was used to. In fact, it tasted a bit like bitter water but once he added a little milk he was able to choke enough of it down to feel sufficiently caffeinated.

Eggs, pancakes, bacon, and something Granger had identified as girts were all available. It was laid out buffet style and everybody grabbed as much or little as they wanted. There were at least thirty other people in the room. He didn't know if they had been there the whole time or just gotten in.

"What are grits?" Fenrir asked when they sat down.

"Dried and ground hominy," Severus said. "Add a little butter and salt, they'll taste fine." He passed the werewolf both mentioned items and Fenrir followed the advice.

Lucius eyed the whitish substance Potter had forced him to put on his plate.

"Is this a Muggle food?" he asked, watching Fenrir closely as he scooped some of these grits into his mouth.

"No," Granger laughed, spreading her own grits on a piece of bread. "It's an American food. Papa Odie's main cook comes from Louisiana."

"Really?" Fenrir asked around his mouthful of mush. He seemed to like it. Lucius put salt and butter on his own.

"Yeah," Potter confirmed. "They have a large Muggleborn population there, you know, because of New Orleans."

Lucius knew all about the Magical community of New Orleans. He'd gone there once on a mission from the Dark Lord to procure a rare herb. They enjoyed Potions, Herbology, and horrible wine. They didn't appear to enjoy sleeping or high society. New Orleans witches and wizards were tough. They baited the elements and would dance outside in lightning storms. It seemed to Lucius that the only thing they really wanted was the next big storm.

All in all, they'd been an odd bunch of Magical traditionalists.

He'd been glad to have left and had never been back.

He spooned a bit of the mush into his mouth and promptly regretted it. His face twisted into an expression of disgust. Potter and Granger immediately burst into loud laughter at the sight. Lucius forced himself to swallow and wondered if he had just been the butt of a joke. Based on the smirk Severus was trying to force away, he would have say he was definitely being laughed at after falling for it.

"It's okay Mr. Malfoy," Granger said clearly trying to be nice. He didn't appreciate it.

"Most British people can't stand them," Severus said. "They think it tastes like wallpaper."

"You'll get used to them!" Granger enthused. Potter was still giggling but had mostly moved on to devouring his own plate, grits included.

"Do I have to?" Lucius asked, sounding like a child even to his own ears.

Nobody answered him and he was pleased to hear Fenrir change the subject.

"So, what are we doing today?" he asked.

"Papa Odie wants the two of us to start working on the roof," Potter said. "That's what most of these guys are here for." He gestured to the dining room at large and Lucius was surprised to see the the crowd had grown while he'd been focused on his American mush.

"All of them?" Fenrir asked.

"Well, some of them have other chores," Granger said.

"The harvest festival is coming up," Severus said.

"Harvest?" Lucius asked. Wasn't it a bit early for such a thing?

"Yes," the darker man continued. "We have one before harvest season and one after. Papa Odie owns several farms and this is one of the few times a year we're able to gather everyone from across the country. Sleepers, squibs, muggleborns. They're all coming."

"When is it?" Fenrir asked.

"August first," Potter said and then darted away with his empty plate. He didn't go back to the food line but disappeared into what Lucius assumed was the kitchen.

Lucius tuned them out after that. Fenrir wanted more information about the roof, a subject he had no interest in. He knew nothing about roofs and putting them back together. He'd destroyed a few in his life but that was the extent of his knowledge.

He was once again analyzing the position he found himself in. Whenever something broke in the Manor that required more skill than the House Elf had, they had always called some specialists. Working people, was what his mother had called them. Lucius had never given them much thought; they were the help and he didn't owe them anything but the wages they were due and maybe a polite word or two.

Never had he considered they might be Muggleborns or Half-Bloods. He thought about the people he'd never paid mind to. How many of them would eventually end up here? How many of these people had known the most powerful Magical person on the planet and simply went about their business as if the information wasn't mind boggling?

He marveled at those people. The mere thought of these impending chores was making him lose his appetite. He had honestly never had to do any sort of chore in his life. He'd always had people who took care of those things. But now he was surrounded by people who did these things for a living. Or at least, knew how to take care of themselves. Would they think less of him?

"Are you done Mr. Malfoy?" Granger asked, cutting into his thoughts. He looked to her.

"Yes," he said. "I guess I am."

"Good. You're with me today. We're supposed to help the cook."

He followed her without complaint and she led him through the door and into the motel's kitchen. Everything was big and bulky, but clean. In fact, it was probably the only part of the motel that was up to par. Lucius followed Granger's example and set his plate on a pile that had already begun to accumulate by a series of sinks. There was one circular steel sink with three square sinks following it.

"Marty!" Granger squealed. Lucius had never heard the girl squeal before and he doubted that she did it often. The girl ran and hugged a woman he hadn't seen before. The two embraced and the woman actually lifted her and spun. Once she had been set down, Granger grabbed Lucius's arm and dragged him over.

"Marty, this is Mr. Malfoy," she said. "And this Marty."

"Hello," he said and shook her hand. Marty was a dark haired, thirty something woman that was bit boney. She wore cowboy boots, jeans, and a plaid shirt. If there was ever an American that fit a stereotype, it was Marty. "Call me Lucius."

"Call me Cook," she said. "Everyone does, except Hermione, of course."

"Alright," he replied, feeling awkward. He couldn't tell if it was her or him or the both of them.

"Hermione," Marty said. "Why don't you show him how the sinks work."

"Sure," she said and gestured for him to follow her.

After being showed what went into each sink and where the clean dishes went, Granger left him to it. He hadn't realized just how much effort it took to wash all those dishes. Not only did he have to do the dishes from that morning but he had to wash the dishes from Marty and Hermione making that day's lunch and dinner as well. Six hours later his fingers were pruny despite the gloves they'd given him and all he really wanted to do was go back to his room. Was this what chores were like? He could really do without them.

00000

That night, Fenrir and Lucius choose to stick to their room. People had left for the night and the motel felt as empty as it had the day before. Severus had left with some of the men to a bar. Potter and Granger had disappeared into the woods with Papa Odie.

"What did you do today?" Lucius asked.

The werewolf was laying flat on his back, barely moving, and too exhausted to even fall asleep.

"We had to clear away all the debris," he mumbled. "So much debris."

"Is there a reason nobody used Magic?"

"Apparently, Muggleborns prefer to work with their hands," Fenrir said. "Something about craftsmanship. I think they just like to hurt."

Lucius snorted.

"Says the werewolf," he snarked. "The full moon's tomorrow."

"I know."

"Did Papa Odie tell you where to go?"

Fenrir finally turned his head to look at him. Lucius was used to dealing with Fenrir immediately before the full moon. He was usually snappish, more prone to attack, and the aches would leave him almost incapacitated. Despite popular belief, the transformation didn't get easier with time, it got worse.

The werewolf bite was, in the end, a curse. It didn't matter that Fenrir embraced it as a part of his identity and even his soul. But that didn't erase the fact that Fenrir's bones had been breaking every month for the last forty-odd years. His human form was aging and each transformation was wearing on him.

The alpha's eyes were dark-rimmed and his eyes were already starting to shift to gold.

"Yes, at that post we saw. In the forest."

Lucius nodded. He wasn't sure how Papa Odie was planning on containing Fenrir but he hoped it was effective. Fenrir was, above all else, a predator. If he caught even the slightest whiff of a human he would pounce. It was just in the nature of a werewolf to do so. And it was in Fenrir's nature to surrender himself to it. You couldn't force the man to take the Wolfsbane Potion if his life depended on it.

"Are you worried about it?" Fenrir asked. Lucius couldn't answer him truthfully. He wasn't sure why he suddenly cared about Fenrir's full moon plans. The werewolf had spent plenty of these nights in the woods of Malfoy Manor, something Narcissa had always hated considering they had a child. But Lucius had never minded. It was just Fenrir after all. It wasn't as if he was letting the entire pack run around killing all of the peacocks on the grounds.

"No," the Pureblood finally answered. "I was just curious as to how the others were taking it."

"Fine."

There was a very pregnant pause until, predictably, Fenrir spoke again.

"Have you heard anything about the Order?" he asked. Lucius tried to hold back a snort. It wasn't the Order he was interested in but rather a particular member.

"No. Nothing."

The werewolf nodded and as Lucius watched, his eyelids drooped more and more. He was starting to fall asleep and there was really no other excuse for Lucius to keep him awake other than he didn't want to stare at the ceiling until he himself felt tired enough.

"My bones hurt."

The mumble was the last conscious thing Fenrir did for the night before finally falling asleep, still in his clothes. Lucius shook his head, quietly leaving the room.

00000

That next day was very different.

Mostly because Lucius woke up in the chair he'd fallen asleep in with Papa Odie glaring down at him.

"That's my chair," the man snapped. Lucius blinked and silently got up to move. As he sat, rubbing his eyes, Papa Odie lit one of his strange cigarettes and pushed his sunglasses back up his nose.

"Tonight's the full moon," the man observed.

"Yes," Lucius nodded in agreement not sure what the other man wanted from him.

"The workers won't be here today or tomorrow. A bunch of werewolves always start to gather the morning of. Try not to piss any of them off."

"Yes, sir," Lucius said understanding Potter's earlier compliance with whatever the man said. It was easy to do; Odie had a certain aura about him that commanded everyone's attention if not their respect.

"How's your little werewolf friend doing?"

"I'm not sure," Lucius responded truthfully. It was usually hard to get a reading on Fenrir's condition unless there was some obvious injury. "He said his bones were hurting last night."

"Hmmm, it's his age."

"How much longer do you think he'll be able to handle the transformations?"

Werewolves didn't last to their nineties like humans could. The rough nature of their existences always meant that their bodies gave out sooner rather than later.

"Maybe another few years," Papa Odie told him. "Maybe less."

The thought actually saddened him. Fenrir may have been the thing that ran around the woods at night but he had become at least sort of a good friend. They often worked together. Mostly due to the fact that Lucius was the only human who didn't jump out of his path. There was a certain respect between them.

They had concocted this defection together. Lucius couldn't imagine what it might be like to see this through on his own.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sudden chorus of howling from the trees beyond the parking lot. From the sounds there were maybe six or seven werewolfs already gathered there. And then came a sound Lucius knew well. It pierced the early morning air and reverberated off the trees. It was the sound of an alpha werewolf; it was Fenrir's howl.

"Let the full moon begin," Papa Odie quipped as the other wolves howled along with his comrade. "You want some coffee?"


	10. Chapter 10

Lucius followed the sound of persistent giggling and light laughter to an open door at the back of the motel. It led into a basement, a rare sight in this part of the country but Lucius didn't bother to think too much about it. After all, he had a good idea of what it was used for. Tightening his grip on his wand he stepped down and shut the door behind him. The howls and other animalistic sounds were immediately dampened.

The stairwell was dark but as he turned the corner he could see a single bright bulb illuminating the room. Potter and Granger were planted on a black and metal couch, a Muggle television showing something he couldn't even begin to describe. They were both holding an oddly shaped black box with buttons which they were mashing with glee and without much pattern. Severus had seated himself at a desk in the corner working on what looked to be his lesson plans for the upcoming school year. Papa Odie himself was seated on the foot of a large bed which had been shoved into a corner and mostly hidden behind a bookshelf. Marty was next to him reading Witch's Weekly.

He put his wand in back pocket. There was little threat of being jumped by a half-idled werewolf in this basement.

"Are we going to stay down here all night?" Lucius asked.

"Mmhm," Odie replied nonchalantly, bending forward to relight the incense sitting on the table in front of him. "That door you came through has more protection on it than all of Hogwarts."

"I see," he replied and took the only open seat next to Potter. "What are you doing?"

"Playing zombies."

"What?"

"You know, the zombie part of Black Ops. You wanna try it?"

"No, thank you."

After watching them play for another few minutes-Potter and Granger had an ongoing competition to see who could get the most headshots-he was finally able to discern the basics of whatever kind of game this was.

"Harry!" Granger shouted. "That's cheating!"

"It is not! It's creative gameplay."

"Cheater!"

And thankfully the game ended quickly after that. Potter set the little box-thing he been using on the table and stood up to stretch. They had been down there for the most of the day. Everyone except Lucius who had followed Fenrir into the forest. He hadn't dared spoken to the werewolf nor had he purposefully attracted the attention of the gathering wolves. He had simply watched, as was his nature.

There were thirty of them in the small clearing with the runes. Lucius did not recognize any of them besides Fenrir. Each was in a different state of malnutrition or poverty. It was rare for a werewolf to make a living and most of them would spend their lives begging and stealing in places like Knockturn Alley or Wicca's Hollow. If they were Muggles they had a tendency to force self-exile on themselves, unable to cope with the sudden and violent introduction to a world they rarely belonged in. Fenrir spent his time as a hermit in the woods living off of wild game which he rarely bothered to cook.

For the last decade or so he'd been wandering the dense woods at the back of the Malfoy property. They were as dangerous as the woods outside of Hogwarts and were separated from the main house by a pleasant lake. Magical creatures of all nature had been wandering in out of that land for centuries and Lucius had always found the things that lived there quite fascinating. He had spent much of his childhood observing them, just as he had the day of the full moon.

But now he was sitting in what he was certain was Papa Odie's personal bedroom and he was feeling a bit light headed from whatever the man was burning.

"Should we watch something?" Granger asked picking up a battered copy of _Hogwarts, A History_ and setting it in her lap. She didn't move to open it but Lucius suspected she was perfectly content to simply hold it.

"Star Wars?" Potter asked.

"We watched that last time."

"Doctor Who?"

"Watched that the time before."

"We aren't watching _another_ documentary, Hermione."

"What's wrong with learning something?" Granger snapped.

"Yes, Potter," Severus spoke up with a tone that was simultaneously silky and sarcastic."What is wrong with _learning_?"

Potter looked as if he dearly wanted to say something sarcastic and perhaps a bit rude but the fact that Severus was his teacher, even outside of Hogwarts, prevented it.

"It's summer," he mumbled lamely.

"I'll watch a documentary," Lucius said, surprising everyone but mostly himself because he wasn't entirely sure what he was agreeing to watch.

"Great!" Granger shouted and leapt up, tossing the book aside haphazardly in her excitement and pelting Lucius right in the gut. She leapt over the back of the odd looking metal couch and planted herself in front of the bookshelf scanning the rows. "Which one haven't we seen?"

Potter huffed and fell back onto the cushion, arms crossed and pouting.

"Watch this one," Papa Odie replied poking at a selection from his side of shelf. It fell out and Granger caught it. "Lucius will like this one."

"You think?" Granger asked skeptically but moved to the television anyway.

"Yes," Odie told her and snapped his fingers. The lightbulb went out which caused Severus to make a noise of annoyance but he simply lit the end of his wand and continued working, ignoring them all with the practiced skill of a lifelong introvert.

Granger started the documentary and Lucius found himself utterly enraptured for the next two hours learning about a man named Elvis Presley. The man was magnetic and Lucius had to admit he rather liked the music. Perhaps Muggles weren't quite as useless as they first appeared to be.

By the time the documentary was over, night had fallen and Lucius could plainly hear the howling of the werewolves outside. They seemed to have abandoned the forest in favor for prowling the parking lot of the motel. Lucius looked up to the popcorn ceiling and listened with all the others. No one bothered to try and suggest that they put on another documentary or otherwise try to drown out the noises of the wolves. In fact, everything was so quiet in the basement that Lucius easily heard the sounds of a fight.

Werewolves commonly had fights if they weren't with a pack and it didn't surprise Lucius that one had broken out so quickly. Fenrir was a wolf that had been running alone since the Dark Lord fell thirteen years ago and had only just started to rebuild a Pack. He would always be influential in the werewolf community but as for running with other wolves, he had mostly stayed away. Until last year, when he'd discovered what was left of a Pack running from werewolf hunters.

A few men, several women, and a whole slew of now orphaned children. He had taken these city werewolfs and showed them how to live in wild. And now Voldemort was demanding that he kill half of them to prove his loyalty. It didn't take a genius to figure out why Fenrir had taken to the plan to defect.

"Granger, I have something for you."

Surprisingly it was Severus who broke the silence and he opened a desk drawer. After ruffling around inside for a few moments he tossed something to the girl who caught it perfectly. It was a purple, beaded bag. A little fancy for her but Lucius could easily tell that it was secondhand and by no means designer. It fit Granger quite suitably.

"Who's it from?" she asked knowing instinctively that _Severus_ certainly hadn't been the one to procure it for her.

"Do you remember Sarah Harknell?" Severus asked and she nodded. "She left it here for you. It has an Undetectable Extension charm on the inside that's gone wrong. She didn't know who to fix it without messing up the other charms. She said if you could fix it, you could have the bag but only after you tell her how you did it."

"Challenge accepted," Granger said and immediately opened the bag and practically stuck her head in it to get a good look at the inside. When it became apparent that she wasn't going to remove her face from the bag anytime soon the conversation moved on without her.

"Well, I'm bored," Potter said before leaping up and then taking a flying jump to the bed landing on his stomach by Papa Odie. The group made idle chit-chat for nearly three hours before everyone started to drift off to sleep. Granger-who had finally pulled her face out of the bag-and Marty shared the bed. Potter pulled the odd-metal couch out flat into another bed. It was the strangest thing Lucius had ever seen a piece of furniture do. Papa Odie and Potter shared the couch-bed. Severus and Lucius were stuck with sleep pallets on the floor.

He really missed his mansion.

00000

The glow of the television woke Lucius up at a quarter after two in the morning. He blinked, rubbed his eyes, and sat up. Granger was in front of the television a long cord connecting her ears and the television. Lucius could hear the sound of the show she was watching coming from the white circles in the her ears. She was sitting in front of the couch-bed, leaning against the side. Potter was tossing and turning behind her.

Lucius had never seen Granger like this. She looked wholly sad and content at the exact same time. She clearly wasn't paying attention to what was on the television but was rather using it as an excuse to sit and be lost in thought. Lucius had a sudden urge to know what she was thinking about at quarter after two in the morning.

Deciding on impulse to act on the urge, he got up from his pallet and cautiously made his way to where she was sitting. It was only a few steps but it was enough distance that it gave her time to realize she wasn't the only one awake. He sat next to her and she took one of the white circles with the sound coming out of it from her ear.

"What are you doing up?" she whispered.

"I was going to ask you the same thing." She looked him up and down and huffed. She was smart enough to keep her guard up with him. They may have spent a lot of time together in the last few weeks but she didn't have any reason to trust him and he hadn't really given her one.

"Insomnia?" he asked looking for whatever answer she might give him. He couldn't explain why he was interested to know. He just was. What _did_ the 'brilliant' Hermione Granger think about at night? He was sure that there were plenty of people in their world who would be interested in knowing the answer to that question.

"Worry," she finally said. "How bad is he? Really?"

"The Dark Lord?" he asked and she nodded. "He's..." He stopped suddenly. How could he explain the Dark Lord? On the surface he was terrible, a monster even. But he had had a silver tongue and he had power and Lucius didn't want to admit that he had fallen prey to either of those things. "He's as bad as you think he is." She was smart enough to know the reality surrounding the Dark Lord and her situation as a Muggleborn. She turned back to the television without another word.

Lucius was satisfied with what he'd gotten from her. She was thinking about Potter and herself and quite possibly the people they'd left behind at River Point. Maybe she was even thinking about Papa Odie-all snoring, seemingly 100 pounds of him.

"Potter said that you don't respect violence," he whispered suddenly and she gave him a sharp look. "What do you feel about what Papa Odie did here all those years ago?"

"It's disgusting," she said immediately. "But I won't deny that people are safer now because of it. Papa Odie is an ancient soldier from an ancient world. His wisdom outweighs his violence."

"You really think so?" he asked. It was a little staggering to him that Granger would have the capacity to understand that sometimes violence really did do the job. She may not like it herself but she could recognize that they were at war. They were _all_ at war. There would come a time when she might have to kill another human being or do something possibly immoral in order to protect herself or some else. It seemed to be weighing on her.

"I think that there were circumstances to that massacre that Papa Odie didn't tell you. You can't make a judgement without the full story." She turned back to the television while Lucius tried to swallow that. What hadn't Papa Odie told him? The man had already admitted to killing many people in cold blood. He had even provided a suitable motive. What was so bad that he would withhold it from Lucius but give the information to Granger? Whatever it was, was deeply personal.

"What are you watching?" he whispered. This time she smiled when she turned back to him.

"America's Next Top Model," she replied and handed him her extra sound-circle which he accepted and put in his ear. He was immediately bombarded with that oddness of American Muggle competitions. He had never seen anything like it and it fascinated him in a way he hadn't thought possible. Perhaps it was because it was three in the morning that he was taken in so easily.

But taken in he was and he was so engrossed in the photo shoots and catfights that he didn't even register when Granger got up to back to bed. handing him the other sound-circle which he put in his other ear. Four hours later when the others started to stir he was still watching.

He wasn't shaken from his trance until Potter woke up from his fitful sleep rolled over and immediately burst into laughter at the sight of Lucius Malfoy watching a Muggle reality show with his hair askew and his eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep. His mouth was half open and he had no idea what time it was. Potter's laughter woke everyone else and he only laughed harder when Severus threw a pillow at him in frustration.

"Are you _still_ watching that show?" Granger asked, sitting up from the bed. She was looking at him with a mix of amazement and amusement, the same expression on Odie's face.

"Um," was all Lucius could say, too tired to be embarrassed and honestly too engrossed in the show to care. "Yes."

"Leave him alone," Odie cooed though it sounded like something he was only saying to make the still giggling Potter stop before he died from lack of air. Unfortunately it all made Granger start to giggle. She crossed to the television and pulled out the cord. The sounds of the show immediately flooded the room and they all watched the television marathon for another two hours when there was a knock on the door.

"Go get it," Odie told Potter who leapt up to obey. He ran up the stairs and opened the door. There were the sounds of talking and then Potter led a thoroughly disgruntled and dirt covered Fenrir down the stairs. Fenrir eyed the proceedings wearily but when no one seemed to notice him he asked a question.

"What is going on?"

"A marathon of America's Next Top Model," Granger replied patting he ground beside her. Fenrir raised his eyebrows but took a seat next to her. This effectively left her sandwiched between Lucius and Fenrir and he was honestly surprised that she didn't leap up in fear or disgust or some other strong emotion that they deserved. But she just sat there calmly as if this entire thing was normal.

Lucius was positive that this was the strangest thing he had ever done.

He was in a basement with a tattooed Merlin, the Boy-Who-Lived, a Muggleborn from New Orleans, a Muggleborn he'd almost killed once, a grumpy Severus Snape, and an Alpha werewolf fresh from a change.

Sometime in the middle of an episode-Granger had explained television lingo-Marty had brought down leftovers from yesterday's breakfast and they all indulged. Fenrir said that the other werewolves were wandering out of the woods but weren't going to the motel.

"They rarely stay the day after," Odie said. "They have their own human lives to get back to. A lot of them are Muggles and don't want to be here more than they have to."

Fenrir shrugged that off and stuffed three sausage links in his mouth at once.

They filtered out of the basement one by one over the course of that day. Lucius didn't leave until the television station stopped playing the show somewhere around three in the afternoon. He'd been awake for twelve hours by then and was exhausted. He and Fenrir went up to their room and fell into their respective beds.

"Why did Granger keep stuffing her head in a bag?" Fenrir asked suddenly and Lucius couldn't help but burst into hysterical laughter. He blamed the exhaustion.


	11. Chapter 11

Over the next few days Lucius did more physical labor than he had ever done in his entire life. His hands were sore from scrubbing, his feet were sore from too much standing, and he was sporting all sorts of bruises that he didn't know the cause of. He had gotten to know Marty a little better as well. Surprisingly, this had been the best part of the entire mess he'd found himself in.

Marty had a sense of humor that he had never seen in a woman before. Bellatrix Lestrange had a very brutal and cruel sense of humor and while Marty had a tendency to be very honest in the things she said, there wasn't a cruel bone in her body. In fact, Marty was quite insistent on being nice even though Lucius had sneered at her more than once for acting like a Muggle. Of course, that had made Marty act like a Muggle even more just to spite him.

"Guess what?" Granger squealed as she ran into the kitchen a piece of paper clutched in her fist. It was lined and white which made it Muggle. Marty paused in her chopping.

"What?" she asked.

"Mum and Dad are coming tomorrow!" she said. Marty gave a genuine noise of happiness but Lucius was confused. On the one hand, he had not yet dealt with Muggles directly since he had defected and he was honestly wishing he wouldn't have to. But on the other hand, he was thoroughly curious about how Granger's parents could interact with the eclectic group of people that had gathered at Odie's motel.

"Why are they coming?" Lucius asked.

"Mum and Dad are dentists," she replied. "They come in and help the werewolves and homeless Muggleborns with their teeth."

"Really?" Lucius asked surprised. He had known-for decades-that a large portion of the Magical homeless population consisted of Muggleborns and werewolves. That had always just been fact and most people easily ignored it. Especially when those people were from Lucius's own social class and clubs. He had never known that there were places that they could go to get help with anything, least of all their teeth.

"Yeah," Granger said, her smile still stretching across her face. "I'm going to go find Harry. He has a molar that's been bothering him."

"Bye!" Marty shouted after her as the girl ran out of the kitchen as quickly as she'd come in. "Have you ever met her parents?"

"No," Lucius replied honestly. He had seen the Muggles in Diagon Alley once a few years ago but he had never spoken to them. At the time, such a thing would have been beneath him. He still wasn't sure if he was going to talk to them.

"They're very kind," Marty said. "And they're very supportive of Hermione being a witch. You don't always see that with Muggle families."

"No, I guess not," he said quietly, not sure how he was supposed to respond to such a statemate. Thankfully, Fenrir wandered in at that point.

"Hermione said her dentist parents are coming tomorrow," he told them.

"We know," Marty said, tossing him an orange before he could stick his dirty hands in the box next to her. He smiled a thanks and began eat the orange, rind and all. Tucked underneath his arm was a book that Lucius was now familiar with.

Fenrir had somehow located a battered copy of Potter's book in one of the empty rooms and had been reading it ever since. It had been decades since Fenrir had picked up a newspaper much less a novel and he was trying to plough through it on his own. Granger could sometimes be seen helping him relearn how to read certain words and phrases. Fenrir said it was a good book but Lucius doubted he would be reading it especially after Fenrir had told him that his son really was a little prat.

He didn't like his parenting failures thrown in his face. He was perfectly aware that Draco was spoilt and he was also perfectly aware that his son was quite hateful towards Muggleborns and Muggles. It had never been a concern for him until now.

"Are you going to grab an appointment with them?" Marty asked, cutting through Lucius's thoughts and bringing him back to the conversation about Granger's dentist parents.

"I think so," Fenrir said. "My fangs hurt sometimes. What can they do for that though? They're Muggles." It was a perfectly innocent question but Marty didn't really see it that way. Their reputations as killers and Death Eaters had not even been marginally wiped away in the time they'd been with Odie. People didn't trust them and they didn't expect them too. There was far too much blood on the page to expect a simple defection to wipe it all clean.

"Just because they're Muggles doesn't mean they're useless," Marty snapped. Fenrir put his hands up in a gesture of peace.

"I didn't mean anything by it," he said. "I was just asking." Marty eyed him critically. However, after a moment her tense shoulders relaxed and she continued with a much more civil tone.

"They'll be able to do more for you than you think," she said. "Just give them a chance."

"Alright," Fenrir said and left. Once Lucius finished chopping he followed him, glad to leave the remaining awkward atmosphere behind him.

00000

Lucius started to wander back to his room but came across Potter and Granger whispering in the walkway. Granger was still holding her letter from her parents and was shaking her head furiously at whatever Potter was saying. He was nodding and clearly trying to convince her of something. Lucius would have normally ignored it but they were standing right in front of his door.

"Hem, hem," he coughed, not politely but quite sardonically. Both teens immediately fell silent and looked at him. "What are you two doing?"

"Nothing," they said at the same time. Lucius wasn't convinced. He may not have been the most present father but he recognized a teenaged cover up when he saw one.

"Doesn't look like nothing," he said. Potter puffed up, pulling at the hem of his Hawaiian shirt, and shuffled his bare feet.

"It's none of your business," he said. Lucius raised an eyebrow at him.

"Just ask him Harry," Granger whispered. "You never know."

"Ask me what?" Lucius asked. Potter was shaking his head so furiously at Granger that Lucius was surprised the boy's glasses didn't fly off his face and shatter.

"What exactly are you planning?" she asked suddenly. Lucius could tell that it wasn't the question Potter had expected her to ask. He was looking at her in surprise, a bit slack jawed but Granger ignored him completely.

"Excuse me?" Lucius asked, not understanding what she was fishing for. There were quite a few different ways that he could answer such a question.

"With this whole 'reforming' thing," Granger said, eyeing him with narrowed eyes and clear suspicion on her face. She hadn't looked at him that way in a while and he was surprised to find that it made him uncomfortable.

"I'm doing exactly what I told you I was doing," he said. "The Dark Lord has gone too far."

"How far is 'too far'?" Potter asked.

"More than you could stomach," Lucius said truly believing that. He had been there when the Dark Lord had tried-and failed-to kill Potter in the graveyard. The thought itself hadn't bothered him in the slightest. He wasn't doing this for Potter, he was doing it for Draco. His spoiled and naive son who would get himself killed if Lucius didn't find a way to get rid of the Dark Lord from their lives once and for all.

"The type of devotion you had," Granger said, "to _Him_. That doesn't just break. Most people like you would be proud to think their son was following in their footsteps. So why not you? What really happened?"

"I haven't lied to you," Lucius said.

"I didn't say you lied to me," she sent back. She was smarter than he had thought. She definitely understood the subtlety of words. "I said you haven't given me everything."

"You don't need to know," he told them firmly. "If Odie or Dumbledore need to know, I'll tell them but you don't need to know." They looked thoroughly put-out by such a thought and he was instantly reminded at how meddlesome these two had a tendency to be. They may have been down a member but they were still relentless.

"Whatever," Potter said, seemingly dismissing the conversation but Lucius expected to hear of it again soon. "I've got something I need you to do."

"I'm not at your beck and call Potter," Lucius snapped. He may have had his back against the wall but that didn't give Potter any right to boss him around.

"Technically, you're still our prisoner," Granger said. "You don't really have a choice." Lucius looked at her coldly knowing that she was right but not wanting to admit it, even to himself. The two of these kids had already kept him in line on their own but now there was Odie to worry about. One word from either of them and Lucius was likely to end up dead. He had yet to see Papa Odie display any kind of significant power but Severus had already backed up everything that he had heard about the tattooed man. And Severus he was willing to believe.

"What do you want from me?" Lucius asked.

"World Peace," Potter said, snidely and then winced when Granger's foot landed solidly on his toes. "Ow, Hermione. Fine. I need your help is what I need."

"For what?"

"The Ministry Hearing," Potter said and Lucius remembered that the boy was going up against Fudge for underage Magic. The reaction at the Ministry to Potter's Patronus charm had-in his opinion-been completely ridiculous. Not because everyone was fighting about whether there had actually been a dementor but because a criminal court was being used to try the boy. It didn't matter how famous Potter was or how many buttons he had pushed. Fudge looked like idiot for blowing it all out of proportion.

"What could I do?" he asked and Potter gave him an annoyed look.

"Seriously?" he asked. Granger jumped in before he could go on a tangent that was deeply insulting and in no way helpful to anyone.

"Your son has made it quite clear that you have deep influence in the Ministry," she said. Lucius nodded. It had hardly been a difficult matter to get Fudge wrapped around his finger. "Harry _has_ to return to Hogwarts. Can you help with that?"

"Probably," he said. "What's in it for me?"

"I won't let Papa Odie eat you for breakfast," Potter replied, his arms crossed, daring Lucius to challenge him. Since he wasn't entirely sure if Potter was just being sarcastic or not he swallowed, and made up his mind.

"Fine," he replied. "I'll need proper clothes."

"I think Papa Odie has some dress shirts stashed away somewhere," Granger said, darting forward and grabbing him tightly around the wrist. "Let's look."

She and Potter led him away from his room and to another room he hadn't been in before. It was packed with clothes and shoes, some hanging on racks, some spilling out of dresser drawers, and some folded in piles on the floor. The two teenagers began looking for clothes that he could wear to Ministry without looking like a fool.

"Don't you think people are wondering where you've been?" Potter asked, the thought clearly just occurring to him.

"Narcissa is efficient at handling curious lackeys," Lucius said quietly, sitting in a chair and mostly ignoring them. Granger hummed.

"Ah! Lookit what I found!" Potter shouted gleefully and held up a t-shirt with a word on it Lucius didn't recognize.

"Spew?" he asked. "Is that some sort of Muggle thing?" Granger immediately threw a shoe at Potter in a weak attempt to shut him up but the boy simply ducked.

"The more you eat the more S.P.E.W., _spew_!" he sang, doing an odd dance with his hips. Granger was torn between abject fury and giggling madly at Potter's antics. It was the oddest expression he'd ever seen on her face.

"What is Spew?" he asked, again, hoping for an actual answer.

"It's _not_ spew," Granger snapped. "It's S.P.E.W. The Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare."

"I've never heard of it," he said.

"That was because Hermione could never get anyone to join," Potter said throwing the shirt aside and continuing to search.

"You and Ron joined," Granger said, hands on her hips.

"By force," Potter said. "Ah ha! Try this." He tossed a white shirt that was horribly wrinkled but Lucius tried it on anyway. It fit well enough and the plain white fabric wouldn't give away anything.

"I still need pants, shoes, and a light robe."

"People don't wear robes here," Granger said.

"I had gathered that," Lucius said. "However, people at the Ministry _do_ wear robes and I would prefer to attract as little attention as possible, thank you."

"You're very welcome," Potter replied knowing full well that Lucius held no gratitude towards them but couldn't resist the opportunity to push back at him. Potter grinned cheekily. The two went back to searching through the piles of clothes and this time Lucius joined them. There wasn't much of a selection in the room and he was trying to avoid thinking about how these clothes had all ended up here.

However, ten minutes later when he turned around he found Granger and Potter thoroughly distracted. Granger had pulled on a bright green sweatshirt with the sleeves cut off and the hood pulled over her head. It clashed with the bright orange shorts and the pink sunglasses with no lens in one eye. She was hopping around, trying to get a pair of black boots with sequins on her feet, her tongue sticking out in concentration.

Potter was looking equally ridiculous. He had found a bright orange, blue, and pink striped shirt, red pants, and white shoes. His hair had managed to find a new level of untidiness and there was a green boa draped over his shoulders. The two of them were laughing hysterically at themselves.

"What are you two doing?"

Lucius wished he had been the one to ask that question but he was too shocked by their state of dress to manage to words. He had never seen Granger act so goofy nor had he heard of her being capable of acting goofy.

Everyone in the room turned to find a new person at the doorway.

Lucius recognized him immediately as Ronald Weasley and his father was standing at his shoulder. He felt his cheeks heat up faintly at the prospect of Arthur Weasley knowing about what had been happening. But the man didn't seem interested in him at all.

"Do we looking dashing Ronald?" Potter asked, in a false, simpering tone.

"Not really," Ron replied, trying not to laugh at the state of his friends. "What's _he_ doing _here_?"

Arthur's attention was suddenly on Lucius who had a moment of panic. Ron clearly hadn't been told about the events of the last few weeks and Lucius wondered how much Arthur knew. Probably everything considering he was fairly close to Dumbledore and a suspected member of the Order of the Phoenix.

"Malfoy," Arthur greeted politely. Lucius nodded back.

"Weasley," he replied. It was tense exchange and he hadn't expected it to be any different. "I wasn't aware you knew Odie."

"Of course," Arthur replied, still coldly polite. "He sends me spark plugs every Christmas."

"C'mon, Ron," Potter replied one hand wrapped around Granger's wrist dragging her towards the door. He grabbed the young Weasley's wrist on his way out of the door. "I'll fill you in on everything and you can fill me in on everything. That way we're all filled in and the awkwardness of this room is far behind us. Let's GO!"

The last Potter shouted just loud enough for the two adults still in the room to hear. Lucius was suddenly wishing that Potter and Granger hadn't left. He had no desire to be alone with Weasley. And yet, that was exactly where he found himself.

Weasley didn't look smug but he did look as if he wanted answers from Lucius.

"Dumbledore told us about what happened," he said quietly, stepping fully into the room. "He seemed to think Harry vouching for you at Willow Point was enough. I'm not so sure however."

"I know," Lucius said not even remotely surprised that Weasley seemed to know the inner workings of the Muggleborn community. In fact, he was certain that Weasely would be the only Pureblood expert on the piece of world Lucius had suddenly found himself in.

"There's a lot of bad blood between our families," he said.

"I know."

"But I hear you're looking to make amends."

"Yes."

"Well, then. Good luck."

"Really?" Lucius asked, thoroughly surprised. "That's all you have to say about this?"

"I have plenty to say about this," Arthur said sternly. Lucius was aware that Arthur was likely the most influential in this place. He knew more about Lucius than Granger or Potter did and would likely feel no qualms about telling Odie everything.

"That isn't my place though," Arthur continued. "If Odie wants to take you into his little Kingdom that's his business. Just don't expect anything from me. Ever."

And with that cold-but admittedly deserved-reply, Arthur disappeared and Lucius was left alone in a pile of clothes to search for something he could wear to help Potter out of a mess with the Ministry.

It was hard to imagine that this was his life now.


	12. Chapter 12

Granger's parents looked exactly as he remembered them but as to their character Lucius was quite surprised. They had set up shop in one of the empty rooms, caring to people's teeth all through the morning and late into the afternoon. Granger herself was there to help, Potter and the Weasley boy at her side. Both kids decided who would be seen and when.

Apparently, the Grangers had been offering their Muggle expertise for a few years and were quite popular among those who had no other option for help. They didn't charge any money and Papa Odie supplied Magical remedies to those who preferred it. He was set up at a table to the side, labeling Potions bottles as quickly as Severus filled them. Someone's child was in Odie's lap, drawing little pictures on the labels as they came within her reach. Thus, there were Potions floating around with flowers, smiley faces, and horses that didn't look anything like a real horse.

Arthur Weasley was thoroughly engrossed in the goings on of the two Muggles. He was plainly in the way but the Grangers simply bore him with a kind smile and set him to stapling papers. He took to the task with glee and ended up playing with the stapler for half an hour even after everything had stapled.

Fenrir wasn't able to see Mr. Granger until just before dinner. His wife had already packed up her stuff and left with the two Gryffindors for the dining room. Lucius had decided to accompany him. He was curious as to what Granger was about to do to Fenrir's teeth and he was also curious as to what kind of Muggle Granger was.

Marty had told them that the Granger parents were proud to have a witch for a daughter and supported her Magical education wholeheartedly. Apparently, there hadn't been any reservations at all about sending her to Hogwarts, something that he was told was unusual. Furthermore, Granger himself seemed to be completely at ease with the odd happenings of the Magical community around him. Lucius mentioned that to him as he used a nasty looking metal pick to poke at Fenrir's gums.

The werewolf was gripping the handles of the modified reclining chair he was using so hard that Lucius was certain the chair would be ruined by the end of Granger's work.

"You get used to it after a while," Granger said in response to Lucius's off hand comment. "Hermione was doing wierd stuff for _years_ before she got her letter. When it showed up it was like everything made sense again. And she was so excited, too."

"You didn't question it at all?" he asked. Granger shook his head.

"There was nothing to question," he said, and narrowed his eyes in concentration as he prodded around Fenrir's back molars. "She's a witch. That's all there is to that. She's talented at that too. It would have been wrong to keep her from Hogwarts." On that Lucius agreed.

It was plain to everyone who knew her that Granger would have been wasted in the Muggle world. She was too good at what she did. She had already managed to fix the bag Severus had handed to her and he had seen her go through at least four large of tomes in the short amount of time they'd been there.

"Is there a particular reason you're in here?" Granger asked, trying not to be rude but ending up rude nonetheless.

"Fenrir bites," Lucius replied not wanting to admit that he had been curious. Fenrir gave him an annoyed look but didn't seem fit to comment. "Don't want you to lose a finger. Your daughter would do something horrible to me." Granger snorted.

"I've been bitten before," he said, choosing another tool from his tray. Lucius tried not to look at it. He was almost completely sure that he had seen Travers use similar tools to torture people. "It's part of the job."

"You've never been bitten by an Alpha werewolf," Lucius said and Granger actually froze. It wasn't because he didn't want to work on a werewolf; he had been doing that all day. It was because Fenrir was eyeing him with a look that even Lucius couldn't identify. It was almost an assessing look.

"True," Granger finally said, pulling himself together. Then he changed the subject. "Hermione told me how you four came to be here. Did you really fall for Harry's Benadryl trick?" Lucius rolled his shoulders uncomfortably. He didn't really want to answer that question. It was still deeply embarrassing.

But Granger already knew. There was really nothing left to hide.

"Yes," he finally said. And then the Muggle's words caught up to him. "Wait, has he done things like that before?"

"Sure," Granger shrugged. "Once or twice at Hogwarts I think. Comes in handy, the Benadryl trick." Lucius and Fenrir exchanged a gaping look. Was Potter really running around dosing people into a medicated sleep? And for what purpose? Lucius found himself wanting to know the answer to that question.

"Anyway," Granger went on without preamble. "I've been hearing about this whole Dark Lord problem." At this he gave Lucius a very intense look and had Lucius not still had a shred of his pride he would have looked away. "Hermione says he's bad news."

He snorted at the understatement.

"The Dark Lord is unlike anything you'll ever see."

"Oh I doubt that," Granger said and Lucius was quite certain that the man didn't understand due to his being a Muggle and therefore ultimately ignorant of the threat to their world. "People like him are all the same in the end. Nothing's ever really new."

"It will be difficult to fight him," Lucius said, not wishing to delve into a debate with a Muggle. "The Muggle world will find itself in great danger soon." Fenrir growled a little in warning, apparently thinking that Lucius was telling too much to a Muggle he had no business telling anything to. If Hermione Granger wanted her parents to know what was happening in the Wizarding World she would tell them. And that was that.

"My people will be alright," Granger said and Lucius was vividly reminded of the conversation he'd had with Potter and the other little boy at Willow Point. About the weapons Muggles had at their disposal. "I think we can manage a devil with a stick. We'll stumble and fall a bit but there are plenty of wizards and witches we can rely on to keep everyone safe."

Lucius nodded. Granger was not wrong on that point.

He was not wrong at all.

Thankfully, the sudden awkward silence was broken by Potter, who walked noisily into the room.

"How're things out there Harry?" Granger asked, smiling at the boy pleasantly.

"Alright," Potter said. "I thought I would check to make sure you weren't being eaten or tortured or something, being in here alone with a Malfoy and Greyback."

"Where are Ron and Hermione?" Granger asked, ignoring most of that insult.

"I don't think you want to know," Potter said with a look on his face that said quite plainly that _he _didn't want to know.

"What do you mean?" Lucius asked.

"Well, Ron wanted Hermione to help him with his essay," Potter began and Granger nodded. "But she wouldn't do it unless he painted her toes. So now he's painting her toes pink and she's naming every goblin rebellion that's ever happened."

Granger laughed so hard that he to stop working for a moment in case he accidently cut Fenrir's gums. The werewolf gave a muted laugh finding some amusement in the two teenagers. Potter had an odd look on his face.

"I love it," Granger said. "She's good isn't she?"

"I guess," Potter replied. He spotted the confused look on Lucius's face and elaborated even though Lucius didn't care enough to want him to elaborate. "Hermione and Ron are going to get married one day. But they don't know it yet so don't say anything."

Granger had a soft smile on his face as if the entire situation was adorable to him. And perhaps it was. Lucius just shook his head.

"What are you planning to do about my trial?" Potter asked suddenly. Lucius felt the good mood disappear in a flash.

"Talking to the Minister directly would be fruitless," Lucius told him honestly. "He's set against you and Dumbledore. Has been ever since Sirius Black disappeared under his nose."

"So what's the best thing to do?" Potter asked.

"The jury," Granger mumbled and Lucius looked around at him in surprise.

"More or less," he agreed. "This trial won't have a jury, just the Wizengamot-all of whom can be swayed with one price or another."

"Is it really that easy to bribe people in the Ministry?" Potter asked looking mildly surprised at the thought that his government could be so flawed. Lucius had known and used this to his advantage for a while now.

"It isn't bribing," he said. "It's something much more subtle. I'll be there, the day of your trial. It shouldn't take more than few to convince and you'll have a majority in your favor. A lot of the Wizengamot are still leaning towards Dumbledore and almost all of them will take your history into account. It's rather difficult to be the one who threw the Boy-Who-Lived out of Hogwarts. That can work in your favor."

Potter looked him up and down, searching for something to poke a hole in but the Gryffindor wasn't experienced enough to find a flaw.

"But what about Fudge?" he persisted. "How do I get him to leave me alone?"

"You won't," Lucius replied. "The Dark Lord won't hide in the shadows forever. In fact, I think it should only be another few months before he moves into the open. Just give that part a little time." Fudge would undoubtedly go down in history for being the most idiotic Minister of Magic that they had ever had. Lucius thought it was a fair representation considering how easily swayed he was by shiny gifts and silky words.

"I see the problem," Granger suddenly said and for a moment Lucius thought he was talking about the Ministry of Magic, a subject he had no business discussing no matter how talented his Muggleborn was. Granger was, however, talking about something in Fenrir's mouth.

"Nasty cavity you've got there," he said and reached into his portable set of drawers to pull out a bottle of liquid and a syringe. Fenrir's eyes went comically wide.

"What are you doing?" he asked, and Lucius was amused to note that he sounded frightened.

"Oh don't worry," Granger replied happily as if nothing was odd about the situation. Lucius found it laughable, watching a Muggle make a powerful werewolf cower with nothing but a needle. "Just something to numb your gums. Makes everything more bearable is all." And he plunged the needle into Fenrir's gum before the wolf could react.

There was a horrible tearing sound as Fenrir's nails dug so far down into the arms of the chair that it shredded. His hands clenched and he jerked which effectively tore the arms from the body of the chair. Granger raised his eyebrows in surprise and flung himself backwards as the flailing werwolf flung the broken parts of the chair away from him and tried to force back the feral part of him. His eyes were flashing bright gold, a sure sign that he was losing control.

"Stupefy!" Lucius shouted, casting the spell quickly and without warning. Fenrir fell back into the chair with a slump, unconscious.

"Well, that's new," Granger said, taking a deep breath. "Never had someone rip a chair apart over a needle."

"Fenrir doesn't like needles," Lucius said.

"No, really?" Potter asked sarcastically. "I thought he was trying to do a weird version of the Dougie."

"The what?" Lucius asked.

"It's a dance move," Granger replied and motioned for Potter to help him straighten Fenrir. Then Granger went back to work as if nothing had happened. Lucius winced at the sound some of the tools made, especially at what Potter called the drill.

Lucius was extremely glad that Fenrir had already been knocked out. The whining sound of that drill would have driven him mad. And he doubted anyone short of Papa Odie himself would have been able to help the rampaging werewolf then.

00000

Lucius had a terrible case of insomnia that night. He didn't even attempt to sleep after he and Odie had taken a still unconscious werewolf to bed. They had thought it better for everyone if they just let Fenrir be until the next morning. Around one in the morning, as he sat in the circle of chairs around the fire pit that they had taken to since that first day he heard mumbling from around the corner.

Getting up and stuffing his cold hands into the pocket of his jacket he followed the sound. Peeking around the corner he saw Granger, Weasley, and Potter whispering in hushed tones. Straining his ears, he managed to catch pieces of the conversation.

"Hermione, you said you were going to release her when we got off the Express," Weasley was saying.

"I was planning on it," she replied. "But I had a bad feeling about it."

"Well, you can't keep her in there forever," Potter replied and looked at whatever Granger had in her hands. Lucius peered harder and saw that it was a jar with twigs and some old blades of grass. A beetle was inside, pressed against the glass, and utterly still.

"Yeah," Granger said. "But what can we do, now?"

"We have to let her go," Potter said. "We can't hold someone hostage, no matter how horrible they are."

"That's not what you told Malfoy though, is it?" Weasley asked.

"That's different Ron," Granger said. "This is Rita Skeeter we're talking about."

Lucius had the sudden, horrible realization that it was Rita Skeeter in that jar. Nobody had heard from in her at least a month. Everyone that thought she was off working a story somewhere and would return with some award winning scandal when she saw fit. Lucius stepped out from around the corner and he watched Granger go pale at the sight of him. The other two whipped around to face him as well.

"So it wasn't just me you kidnapped," he said smoothly. "Did you get Skeeter with the Benadryl as well?"

"No," Granger said. Weasley shook his head at her, trying to tell her to remain quiet. Granger ignored him. "I caught her spying on Harry. She's an unregistered Animagus."

"Clearly," he said. He peered at the jar closely. Around the beetle's eyes were markings that he knew would be her glasses once she was human again. "How long do you plan on keeping her in that jar?"

"Not long," Granger replied confidently and Lucius looked at her with a look that said quite plainly that he thought she didn't know what she was doing.

"And when you do let her go," he continued, "how do you plan on keeping her quiet?"

"She'll be ruined if she talks," Granger said.

"Not if she strikes a deal," he continued and looked at Potter. "Do you really think Minister Fudge is going to care about an Unregistered Animagus when she tells him that she can prove Harry Potter kidnapped and helped hold her hostage?"

The looks the three kids' faces said quite clearly that they had not thought such a thing through.

"We'll figure it out," said Potter defiantly. Lucius hummed. He didn't believe that in the slightest. As resourceful and spirited as these kids may be they were still inexperienced when it came to handling what they were trying to handle. Lucius on the other hand was quite adept at covering any crimes.

"Give her here," he said and held out his hands for the jar. The three Gryffindors gaped at him.

"Are you bonkers?" Weasley asked. "We're not giving you anything!"

"Well you clearly can't keep her in the jar and you don't know what to do with her," he said. "I on the other hand, know exactly what to do."

"You can't kill Rita Skeeter!" Potter exclaimed and Granger clutched the jar to her as if it contained something she actually cared about. Weasley looked horrified.

"Don't be ridiculous," he said, rolling his eyes. "A simple threat, perhaps a broken bone will do just fine." Now all three of them were staring at him in horror. "Or you continue keeping her hostage until such time she escapes and all three of you end up in Azkaban."

The passed glances between them, a silent conversation passing between them. Weasley shook his head, then Potter blinked twice, and then Granger gave an odd roll of her head. Finally, Potter turned back to him.

Lucius had put his hands back into his pockets.

"We'll think about it," he said, and the three of them turned their backs and went to their own rooms.

_Interesting_, he thought.

Every time he turned around there was more to find out about these people.

00000

"Seriously?" Fenrir asked.

It was the next morning, barely dawn, and Lucius had been waiting patiently for Fenrir to wake up so that he could tell him everything he'd learned about the Gryffindors and the bug in the jar.

"They've been keeping her in a _jar_?"

"Yes, " Lucius replied. "Makes you think we got the easy deal, doesn't it?"

"Yes, it does," Fenrir said and ran a hand through his already frazzled hair. "I find it hard to believe that Rita Skeeter got herself outwitted by a fourteen-year-old little girl."

"She's smart," Lucius mumbled. "And she's Muggleborn. Dangerous combination when you find it." Fenrir nodded in agreement. That was true enough. Granger was living proof of that.

"What should we do?" Fenrir asked. "Is it really any of our business what they put Rita Skeeter through?"

"Rita Skeeter could be useful," he replied, thinking hard. "She still has tremendous sway with the papers and media. I would rather be in control of that jar than a bunch of misfits who don't know what they're doing."

"Perhaps," Fenrir said. "Unless they hand over that jar to Papa Odie."

"Then we'll just have to convince them that we can handle it better," he said. "Or at least that we deserve the chance to try. Granger likes you doesn't she?" Fenrir shrugged.

"She doesn't flee at the sight of me or flinch away when I stand close," he said. Lucius knew that the way Granger treated Fenrir-with respect-would always be something he would appreciate. He was rarely treated with respect and so it meant something profound when he was.

"Keep on her good side," he said. "She doesn't know you well and there's not much history between you. She may give you the jar before she gives it to me."

"Alright," Fenrir agreed shortly and then got up and prepared for the day. Lucius did as well.

Today was the day that Potter had his Ministry hearing. He had exactly six hours to convince a few select people that the boy shouldn't be expelled from Hogwarts. He pulled on the best clothes he was able to find and followed the road Papa Odie had pointed out to him. It wound through the woods and took him several minutes to reach the end of Odie's property line.

The second he was beyond the wards, he Apparated.


	13. Chapter 13

The Ministry of Magic was exactly as Lucius had left it several weeks ago. The atrium was flooded with wizards and witches going to work and he was unsurprised to spot Potter and Arthur Weasley at the check in desk. He avoided them and slipped into the lift with a crowd of people that looked at him quite oddly.

He understood immediately that his pieced together costume was likely not going to be enough for these people. The Ministry was used to seeing him in resplendent robes of forest green or black with silver trimmings. His hair was always perfectly combed and slicked back which left his face to look as superior as his personality conveyed himself to be. Everyone had seen him stalking the corridors on his way to a meeting with the Minister of Magic or some important department head.

Now however, his hair was disheveled as it had been combed with nothing but his fingers. The shirt he had found was wrinkle free thanks to a well placed Charm but his trousers were frayed at the cuff and he was wearing boots instead of dress shoes. The shirt was untucked and he suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to shower. He couldn't quite remember the last time he'd eaten either and he was certain that he had dark rings under his eyes.

Yes, he probably looked to be a mess but there was nothing he could do about it now.

The lift deposited him on the ninth floor of the Ministry. He had known for weeks now that the Minister would try to best Potter by moving the time and location of the boy's hearing. He was also quite certain that boy had no idea what he was about to go up against. Yes, Potter had known he was being thrown to wolves but Lucius doubted he fully understood what that meant.

In the corridor outside of the courtroom were several of the Wizengamot members. Some of them he recognized and some of them he hated quite thoroughly. A particularly frizzy haired witch that he knew as Cynthia McIntyre was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, and looking thoroughly disgruntled. Lucius approached her quickly.

"Cynthia," he greeted politely. She looked at him, prepared to greet him just as politely but pulled up short at the sight of him.

"Lucius, are you ill?" she asked quietly, instinctively dropping her voice. Cynthia had been a Slytherin in her day but Lucius hadn't known her until he himself had graduated and interned in her department. She had taught him quite a bit about which person had which quirks and how to maneuver his way through the politics of the departments.

"Yes, in fact," he said lapping up the excuse for his appearance with grace. "I need to speak with you." He gently guided her by the arm and moved them up the corridor, almost back to the lift.

"What is it?" Cynthia asked quietly.

"It's about the hearing," he replied.

"Yes, it's going to happen any minute now," she confirmed. "Bit of a nasty trick if you ask me, but Fudge doesn't ask me much of anything anymore."

"Fudge is an idiot," he replied, meaning every word. She smirked at him, her characteristic snideness coming to the forefront in the presence of both a student of her own and a fellow Slytherin.

"Quite," she said. "But what exactly are you concerned about? As I recall you have no good will towards the Potter boy."

"This has nothing to do with good will," he told her and crossed his arms, unconsciously trying to shield himself from her scrutiny.

"Yes," she said and he noticed that there was an odd look on her face. It was as if she knew something. Something she wasn't very interested in telling him about. "I didn't think that was it."

"I need you to vote in favor of Potter returning to Hogwarts."

"I will vote as the evidence demands I vote."

"Please, Cynthia," he said refusing to acknowledge that his tone could be misconstrued as begging. "This is very important. Potter _must_ return to Hogwarts this year."

"Why?" she asked not budging. If she was going to vote a certain way it wasn't because she was going to be doing him a favor. She wanted to know _exactly_ what the consequences of her own actions would be.

"I cannot tell you," he said. There wasn't enough time to actually tell her anything.

"Then I cannot help you," she replied coldly and turned to move away. He caught her by the arm and held her in place firmly.

"What do you want in return?" he asked, knowing that the only real effective way to get a Slytherin to do anything was to offer a trade. If she did this for him, he would do something for her. Both of them would get something they wanted and neither of them would question the motives of the other. That was how it was done, especially among friends.

Cynthia smiled, her feelings of success showing plainly on her face. It wasn't often that Lucius Malfoy was desperate enough to offer a trade so quickly. Lucius very rarely wanted to admit that he couldn't get his way without some sort of payment in return, whether that payment was gold or action. However, when someone did get offered a trade, it was an opportunity that could not be squandered on petty circumstance.

"I don't have the time to run through it with you now," she said and thus accepted his offer. "If you want Potter in Hogwarts, then I have work to do." Lucius dropped her arm as if it was on fire and she took her leave into the courtroom. When she opened the door he could plainly hear the sounds of the majority of the WIzengamot inside. They were clearly enjoying themselves if the laughter was anything to go by.

Lucius sunk into contemplation about the Wizengamot. They were quite satisfied with themselves and the power they held over a fifteen year old boy raised in the Muggle World. He was quite thoroughly disgusted with them, not because they were despicable in their actions but because they were pathetic. They held no real power over half of the country and they didn't even know it.

The Death Eaters and Dark Families had been flaunting their rebelliousness for decades, if not centuries. They didn't care for the Wizaengamot's rules and edicts and were quite often known for their lack of respect about the government. The Wizengamot and indeed the Ministry in general did not recognize this obstinate populace and chose instead to ignore them completely until someone managed to explode a building or murder someone of import.

Furthermore, he doubted that the Ministry had any idea of what was happening with the Muggleborns. It was notoriously difficult for a Muggleborn to get a job in the Ministry due to the fact that most jobs were granted not on qualifications but through politics. Lucius had been offered several jobs simply because he was a Malfoy and for no other reason.

Muggleborns spent most of their lives as the working class. There was anger because of that but the Ministry likely didn't understand how much. Lucius however, had been spending quite a bit of time with the Muggleborns that congregated on Papa Odie's property and he knew just how little respect they had for the Ministry. Papa Odie's closest people very rarely listened to the Ministry or gave it much thought. Lucius would pay money to see the Ministry try to tell Papa Odie not to do something. In fact, he would pay good money to witness it.

"Lucius?"

He was broken out of his thoughts by none other than the thunderstruck Minister of Magic. Lucius was quite certain that Fudge had never considered that Lucius could ever look this disheveled and he found the man's expression amusing.

"Are-are you feeling alright?"

"Yes," Lucius said curtly. He was always curt with Fudge. Lucius neither liked nor respected Fudge and his time away from his normal life had only deepened that dislike. Potter may be every bit as crazy as Fudge thought but the boy certainly wasn't dangerous. Probably.

"Where have you been?" Fudge asked. "I've been trying to contact you about what's going to be happening at Hogwarts this year." As member of the Hogwarts Board of Governors Lucius was often in touch with Fudge. Recently however, Fudge seemed to be determined to be bring the school under the control of the Ministry, something Lucius didn't care to happen. He would much rather the school be under his personal control and not in the control of a man easily influenced by the whims of people smarter than him.

"I have been ill of late, Minister," Lucius lied, forcing himself to sound respectful.

"Oh, yes," Fudge stumbled. "I see that." Lucius narrowed his eyes dangerously as the Minister took in his disheveled appearance. Putting his hands casually in his pockets, Lucius rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet. Such casualness was not something that anyone in the Ministry had ever seen from him but at this point Lucius felt it was more prudent to keep them all guessing.

Everything was getting ready to change anyway and there was no reason not to keep his options open. If that meant dropping a carefully crafted facade, that was what he was going to do. He was no longer a servant of the Dark Lord and thus, he had no reason to play nicely with the Minister-a man he had been instructed to manipulate.

"Well," Fudge continued cautiously, cottoning on to the fact that Lucius was apparently bored with him. "The trial will start in a few minutes."

"A bit strange isn't it?" Lucius asked. "A full trial for a bit of accidental magic?"

"It was hardly accidental," Fudge corrected and Lucius shrugged. "Lucius, my friend, surely you can understand the situation. You've been saying for years that Dumbledore's power had grown too strong."

"Yes," he said. "Potter isn't Dumbledore."

"He's in Dumbledore's pocket."

Lucius actually laughed at that. It was a laugh of derision but a laugh nonetheless.

Everything he had seen from Potter said something quite different than what the Minister was thinking. He knew that Potter was loyal to Dumbledore and would likely always be loyal to Dumbledore. They were teacher and student and Potter genuinely liked the Headmaster. But Potter was not someone to follow orders. He was-in the end-his own person.

In fact, when the Gryffindor had first captured Lucius, Fenrir, and McNair it hadn't been to Dumbledore he'd tried to run to. It had been Papa Odie he had taken them to. Lucius wasn't quite sure how that would pan out in the future but it was certainly telling. Potter talked quite a bit about the Headmaster and it was clear that although their relationship was strained, Potter wouldn't hear a bad word against the man.

However, Potter _had_ said a few choice words about Dumbledore ignoring him. It was clear that Potter prefered an open line of communication with the Headmaster that he would acknowledge or ignore as he saw fit.

"I don't think you know Harry Potter very well," he responded noticing that Fudge was waiting for some elaboration on his amusement. "He may like Dumbledore, but Potter is more interested in doing what he wants, when he wants. Whatever happened in that alley has nothing to do with Dumbledore."

"He's claiming there were _Dementors_ in Little Whinging," Fudge said incredulously. "And now we can't find the family. His relatives are Muggles. Whatever he did scared them so badly they've gone into hiding. He's going crazy I'm afraid."

"I don't think so," Lucius said and Fudge's eyes widened dramatically.

"You think he was telling the _truth_?" he asked, eyebrows trying to disappear into his hairline.

"I think it is possible," Lucius said knowing that he was treading in dangerous waters. He had just handed Fudge a reason to cut all ties with him, something that could make things very uncomfortable for Lucius. On the other hand, Fudge was also going to have to give up quite a bit as well. Lucius-despite his leave of absence-was very much still influential. And now all of that influence was benefiting no one but himself. Fudge didn't know that but it felt good to realize that Lucius's power was now his own.

Fudge stared him for far longer than necessary but thankfully, never got the chance to act. The lift doors opened and out popped Potter and Arthur Weasley. Lucius and the Minister broke eye contact and moved in different directions. Fudge went into the courtroom and Lucius made his way to the lift. He nodded at Arthur, who was too surprised to do anything but eye him wearily. Potter was so busy trying not to throw up that Lucius was positive he didn't even notice him.

Lucius took the lift and made his way to the atrium.

It was there that he noticed something was infinitely off. The second he stepped off the lift, he could feel it in the air. Something had changed in the half hour he'd been on the ninth floor. The Atrium was still as busy as it always was and there was still chaos as people made their way this way and that. It looked completely normal. But something was off. He could feel it in his stomach.

Stepping to the side, Lucius peered into the crowds of Ministry wizards and witches. He knew many of them by sight, having passed them in the corridors and in Floo lines for _years_.

However, when he broadened his focus he spotted what was wrong. There-in the corner-was a man he recognized from Papa Odie's dining room. Lucius knew him to be a Squib and he was currently dressed in the robes typical of a Ministry of Magic caretaker. He was mopping the floor but his eyes were scanning the crowds just as Lucius had been. He looked nervous but determined.

Finally, his eyes landed on a woman coming through the Floo. The woman was an Auror if her uniform was any indication and Lucius had never seen her before. Her hair was blonde, pulled into a tight bun, and she had an unpleasant scowl on her face. She was speaking to someone he recognized as a Weasley. Lucius recalled that this had been the kid that had followed Crouch around like a puppy. He sneered.

As he watched, Weasley and the Auror stopped by the garish fountain that dominated the Atrium and engaged in a very quiet conversation. Had the Ministry not been warded against Listening Charms Lucius would have attempted to listen in. He also didn't dare move closer knowing that they would recognize him even in this state. So he settled for watching the Squib watching the pair of Ministry workers.

He put the mop in the bucket and then reached into his pocket where he was clearly gripping something tightly. Lucius watched closely, thoroughly interested as the Squib crossed purposefully to the fountain, withdrew what looked like bright purple chalk, and dropped it into the water of the fountain.

The effect of the substance wasn't immediate but it didn't take long before the water began to turn a deep, royal purple and began to bubble as if it was boiling. And then, suddenly, it exploded. The water reached all the way to the high ceiling and spilled over the floor with such a huge crashing noise that Lucius's ears began to ring.

Weasley and the Auror woman were thrown violently to the floor. The water itself had turned into something else and wherever it touched his skin there was a small burning sensation. And Lucius had only been hit by a few drops. Weasley was clutching at his face in pain. Lucius didn't doubt that he'd been burned. Perhaps horribly.

People were running and screaming.

Alarms were blaring.

The Squib was gone.

Lucius wasn't entirely sure what he had just witnessed. Had this been a sanctioned attack on the Ministry by Papa Odie? Did the Ministry know about Papa Odie? Were the Muggleborns getting ready to rebel?

Rebellion seemed the most likely cause. After all, Lucius had heard whispers about it in the dining hall at the motel. But why now, when Potter was in the building? Lucius quickly left through a set of stairs that led to the outside of the Ministry. The Floo had been shut down and so had the Apparition points. However, these stairs weren't well known and it was a simple matter of using the right Unlocking Charm.

He didn't want to be caught in the Atrium for the next eight hours as the Ministry bumbled it's way through an investigation. He was quite surprised to reach the street and then hear the sound of the door opening again to reveal another person. The Squib. He had ditched his robes along the way and was now in nondescript Muggle clothing.

The Squib brushed past Lucius and leapt into a car. Lucius peered in through the window to receive another shock. He _recognized_ that driver. The window rolled down and the driver stuck his head out to talk to him.

"Are you just going to stand there or are you going to get in?" Papa Odie asked.

Lucius was too surprised to do anything except jump into the back seat and pull his seatbelt on as the car tore away from the curb and through London.

_What had he gotten himself into now?_


	14. Chapter 14

"What are you doing?" Lucius snapped referring to what he had just seen in the Ministry Atrium and the wild driving that Papa Odie was currently doing. He was a much worse driver than Potter had been and Lucius was extremely grateful for his seatbelt. Papa Odie was weaving in and out of traffic without thought to safety or laws.

There was a cigarette dangling from his lips and blue smoke was going out of the window. Lucius caught a whiff of something foul and couldn't tell where it was coming from. He hit his head on the window after a particularly sharp turn.

"Hey Lucius," Papa Odie shouted around his cigarette. "What did you see at the Ministry?"

"I have no idea!" he shouted back truthfully. He would let Papa Odie know what he had seen after Papa Odie explained what he had seen.

"Keep it that way," Odie responded. There were now Muggle police cars following them through the streets their cars flashing lights and making noises. Lucius knew-even with his limited experience-that they were supposed to acknowledge the Muggle authorities. Odie seemed content to ignore them all. "You want some?"

He passed the cigarette back, turning around, and even letting go of the steering wheel. The Squib-still with an unknown identity-lunged forward to grab the abandoned wheel with a look of pure terror on his face. He had no doubt that the Squib was regretting his involvement in this escapade.

Lucius took the cigarette in the hope that it would get Papa Odie focused on the road again. It worked and the man turned back around and took control of the car from the Squib. Lucius put the cigarette to his lips and took a long pull. He immediately started choking and coughing, blue smoke spilling out of his mouth as his lungs tried to reject what he'd given them. He shoved his hand towards the front and the Squib took the cigarette from him.

"How long will the police follow us, do ya think?" the Squib asked, sticking the cigarette in his mouth. Lucius watched Odie shrug but the sudden numbness in his mouth and arms was taking the priority. He was suddenly reminded of the fact that he did not have tolerance towards anything Muggle. He was fairly certain that what Papa Odie was smoking wasn't Muggle but Lucius still didn't have any tolerance to it.

"They'll follow us until we stop or get away," Odie said, speeding up to make the entrance of a motorway. Lucius recognized it from the first time he'd been forced into a car with crazy people. The Squib looked at him as if he wanted to say something but couldn't quite muster the courage to do so.

"Why exactly are they following you?" Lucius asked, knowing the question was stupid and that he should know the answer but the blue smoke was in his head now and it was making him numb.

"Well, I've murdered the traffic laws," Odie said demanding his cigarette back and stuffing it in between his lips again. "And this isn't my car."

"We're in a stolen car!" the Squib squeaked looking very alarmed indeed. Lucius knew he should feel worried or even perturbed but all he felt was a nice, floating calm. He shouldn't have accepted Papa Odie's cigarette.

"Borrowed," Odie corrected.

"We have to get away!" the Squib shouted. "I can't get arrested again!"

"Calm down," Odie said and handed his cigarette to the man, probably hoping that he would consent to a medicated calm. Lucius's head lolled around on his shoulder and while he was fully conscious he wasn't very aware of his surroundings. He could faintly hear sirens and he wished that they would go away because they were interrupting the calmness that had settled over him. The Squib grabbed the cigarette and threw it out the window.

"Focus on driving," he ordered finding courage in the face of something much less desirable than Odie's displeasure. However, at the look on Odie's face he did add, "Sir."

Odie spent the next five minutes expertly weaving in and out of traffic, the Muggle police desperately following on his heels. Lucius was still numb but the edges of panic started to creep into his psyche and he knew-_knew_-that the best course of action would be to Apparate out of this car and to somewhere much more sane and Muggle free. Like home; yes, home would be nice.

Lucius shook himself out of his thoughts and focused on what was happening up ahead on the motorway. There were a half dozen police cars parked up ahead, blocking the motorway. Odie had two choices. He could either stop or try to run them through. Lucius was positive he was going to run them through and so used his hands to tightly brace himself on the seat.

"What are you DOING?" shouted the Squib but all Odie did was reach over and place two fingers between the man's eyes. In the next instant, the Squib was gone, leaving nothing but an empty seat and a scream behind. Papa Odie turned his head to look at Lucius in the back seat and winked.

"Hang on there, pureblood," he said, a mischievous smile on his face and his golden eyes sparkling in his tattooed head. The diamonds embedded in his bottom teeth were sparkling, the lights of the police cars bouncing off of them. He turned back around, his shoulders set. "It's about to get rough."

Lucius felt the car begin to slow but Odie wasn't braking. He had simply stopped accelerating. Regardless, the car still went toward the blockade and they both saw the police run to the edges of the motorway, trying to get out of the way of the stolen car barreling down upon them.

They hit the first police car and Lucius was jerked forward on the seat harshly. He felt his seatbelt dig into his chest and he was fairly certain he heard his ribs creak as the pressure attempted to snap the bones. There was a terrible screeching noise and then suddenly the car was upside down, rolling, rolling, and skidding along the road. He was jerked around and finally when it stopped, he found himself hanging upside down, the seatbelt pinning him to the seat.

Papa Odie was on the roof of the car below him laughing like a madman and looking up into his face with pure glee, his teeth digging into his bottom lip as if he was a child that knew he had done something naughty but still thought it all in good fun. Odie reached up one tattooed hand and unclipped Lucius's seatbelt so that he fell to the roof beside him.

The pureblood looked out of the window and saw police swarming towards them cautiously, some of them screaming into little black boxes attached to their jackets and vests. Others were carrying things and others still were moving to get a better look.

"We should leave," Lucius said, the calm in his head was still there but he knew it was only a matter of time before it wore off. There was a stickiness on his forehead that he knew would be blood without having to investigate. He couldn't feel any pain. He suspected the cigarette was at fault for this. If one pull could last this long and be this strong, he wondered what an entire cigarette would do. And then he wondered what it was made out of. Certainly something Magical.

"You're such a pureblood," Odie laughed and then picked up Lucius's hand and held it pressed against his chest. Lucius didn't try to pull away. He was too fascinated by what he was feeling beneath his hand. He could feel Odie's Magic, thrumming strong and more complete than Lucius had ever known and would ever know. What he couldn't feel, was Odie's heartbeat.

"Do you have a heartbeat?" Lucius asked. Odie smirked but before he could respond there were hands on Lucius's shoulders and they were pulling him from the car, into the sunlight, and away from Odie and his moment of triumph on the roof of the upturned car. The Muggles were pulling him to his feet but he couldn't stand on his own. Whether it was the blue smoke or whatever had happened to his head in the crash that caused his legs to turn to jello, he wasn't sure.

He heard Odie's laughter behind him. He turned his head and saw two more Muggles pulling him from the car. Odie could stand on his own and the Muggles had bound his hands behind his back with some colored plastic that Lucius had never seen before.

"-you hear me?"

Someone shook him roughly and Lucius snapped back to the Muggles holding him on his feet. They were speaking to him; he should pay attention.

"What?" he asked, squinting into the face of the robust man standing in front of him and glaring.

"I asked, can you hear me? Do you understand me?"

"Yes," Lucius responded and the man seemed satisfied that he was finally paying attention. Although, the Muggle couldn't possibly know that there was a buzzing his brain and he could still smell the blue smoke and he could still taste the bitterness on his tongue. But most importantly, he could still feel the blood on his face. If the Death Eaters could see him now.

They would probably kill him first and then marvel at how deeply he had changed in such a short time.

"Are you _high?_" the Muggle asked him incredulously. Lucius looked at him through slitted eyes trying to formulate a decent insult. Instead, he just jerked both of his arms out of the relaxed grip of the Muggles on either side of him. They were so surprised by the sudden movement that they didn't even try to stop his escape from their grip. Unfortunately, Lucius still couldn't stand on his own and he fell to the ground with a thud and a groan.

"Ugh," he grunted with as little eloquence as possible.

"Someone get a paramedic," the Muggle with all the questions ordered. The two who had failed to hold him left and the Muggle crouched down in front him. "What exactly did you think you were doing?"

"What?" Lucius asked.

"What the _hell_ was Papa Odie doing speeding doing the motorway in a stolen car? Did he kill someone? Did he blow something up?" Lucius stared at the Muggle in utter amazement. He was whispering to him know, trying to get him to focus long enough to answer his questions before they had an audience again.

"Who are you?" Lucius asked.

"Inspector Reyna," he answered. Lucius recalled-quite clearly-that this was the man Granger had originally suggested take over Lucius, Fenrir, and McNair when they were all still tied up at the dinner table. He felt proud of himself for remembering such a detail in his hazy state.

"I don't know what Papa Odie did," Lucius said finally, his instinct to lie still strong though he doubted he could come up with a good lie anytime soon. Simple denial would probably be alright in the meantime

"Did you smoke something?" Inspector Reyna asked. "Something that Papa Odie gave you?" Lucius looked over his shoulder and saw that Odie was being put into the back of a police car. Odie wasn't laughing anymore but he was definitely still grinning and Lucius was definitely still dizzy. He didn't feel it when he fell down the rest of the way.

And the last thing he saw before he fell unconscious was blue sky and Muggles bending over him frantically asking questions about the date, what his name was, and if he knew where he was. He couldn't answer these questions. He was too busy being calm.

00000

When he woke up, he didn't know where he was. But there were lights overhead and they were going in and out of view. He groaned and a hand was clamped tightly over his mouth and he felt the tendrils of panic creep up on him as he remembered what had happened on the motorway.

He didn't know where Odie was; he didn't know where he was. Wherever it was, was most likely somewhere in the Muggle world. And that thought made him panic even more. He didn't want to die in the filthy Muggle World. Of that, he had never been more certain.

"Stop moving," someone commanded harshly and Lucius recognized that voice and that tone. The hand went away.

"Severus?" he asked, his voice scratchy. His throat hurt and he wondered how long he had been out. He reached up to touch the wound on his head and felt nothing but bandages.

"Stop moving."

Lucius moved again. Trying to locate Severus and he immediately came to a couple of conclusions. The first was that he was on a bed and it was moving down a corridor. The second conclusion was that the corridor was in a Muggle hospital (hospitals looked the same no matter what world you belonged to). The third conclusion was that Severus Snape was in a _very_ bad mood.

"Lucius, if you don't stop moving I'm going to knock you out."

"Severus," Lucius continued.

"Quiet," Severus responded as he loaded him-bed and all-into a lift.

"Where am I?"

"You follow direction about as well as Potter," Severus commented sardonically. He pressed a button and the lift began to move. "Be quiet and stop moving. You're still injured."

"What happened?"

Severus heaved a put upon sigh. He was clearly annoyed.

"You did something incredibly stupid," Severus scolded. "Do you know what happens when you burn Calming Draught? I will give you a hint. It gives off a blue smoke."

Lucius groaned as the full force of what Severus was saying hit him. That had been Calming Draught inside Papa Odie's cigarettes. He was lucky he hadn't taken more than one pull. He had no tolerance to calming draught (very few people did) and it was very easy to take too much. If he had taken any more he would have been dead.

"You are lucky to be alive," Severus finished as the lift doors opened. He wheeled him through another corridor and out into a level that was nothing but concrete, cars, and harsh lighting until they arrived at a car. In the front seat was a bleary looking Arthur Weasley and Lucius was honestly surprised as to his presence.

"What are you doing here?" he asked reaching out from his bed to try to open the back door of the car. He had a vague notion that he was going to crawl straight into the backseat without ever setting foot on the ground. Severus beat him to it and yanked open the door to the back seat.

Then he grabbed him around the chest and pulled him back into a strong embrace. Severus was much stronger than anyone gave him any credit for and he easily dragged Lucius off the bed on wheels and managed to hold him up. Lucius could barely walk, his legs still feeling as if they were made of jello. He had no idea what injuries he had but he was very aware that he had no shoes and the only clothes he had was a gown that reached his knees and most likely didn't close in back. He was thoroughly embarrassed.

Severus kicked away the hospital bed and heaved him into the back seat. Lucius landed on a thick blanket that felt like heaven and he squirmed his way under it, delighted when he found a pillow. He pulled his feet in and Severus shut the door. Arthur peered at him in the backseat.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Horrible," Lucius replied as politely as he could. There was no reason to antagonize Weasley at this point. In fact, it would be thoroughly detrimental. "How did we get out? Without the Muggles noticing I mean?"

"Notice-Me-Not," Severus replied shortly as he got into the front passenger seat. He nodded at Arthur Weasley.

"What are you doing here?" Lucius asked again remembering that Arthur had not answered the first time he'd asked. Arthur smirked at him.

"Very few wizards know how to drive a car," he responded and started the machine. His driving was smooth. Lucius would go so far as to say it was perfect. He did not talk but focused all his attention on the road. Severus stared determinedly out the window, his arm dangling outside to enjoy the air. There was silence; not even the radio was on.

He preferred this car ride to any he had had thus far. There was captivity, no threat of dying. Everything was calm and for the first time in days everything was quiet. The vibrations and the fresh breeze sneaking into the backseat quickly lulled him back to sleep.


	15. Chapter 15

Lucius woke up four hours later when Severus opened the door to the back seat and shook him awake as gently as he could. It was not because he was feeling particularly affectionate towards Lucius but that he didn't want to aggravate the head wound the Pureblood was nursing.

"What?" Lucius grumbled, turning to look directly into Severus's face.

"Get up, get dressed. This is the last stop for a while and you need to try to use the restroom."

He didn't have any idea what Severus was talking about but was able to feel annoyed at being spoken to in such a manner. He wasn't a child. Severus dumped clothes onto his face and Lucius was left scrambling to remove them with flying limbs and spluttering a few choice words. Severus simply chuckled and shut the door again.

Sitting up, Lucius found that they were in a Muggle fuel station. Arthur was outside, expertly pumping gas with a huge smile on his face as if this was the best part of his day. Lucius rolled his eyes.

He turned his attention to the clothes he'd been given and managed to squirm his way out of the hospital gown and into grey sweatpants, a red and blue flannel, and black combat boots. In the pocket of his sweat pants he found fresh bandages for his head. All he needed was a mirror.

Opening the car door, Lucius braced himself for trying to stand. Surprisingly, it wasn't the head wound that made it difficult to stand but his cramped legs. He had to shake the pins and needles from his joints before he could take his first shaky steps around the back of the car and approach Arthur.

"Where is the restroom?" he asked.

"In the back," Arthur replied without even looking away from the electronic numbers on the fuel pump. Lucius made his way around as quickly as possible and soon found himself in a dingy bathroom with two stalls and a single sink. Severus was washing his hands with water that Lucius wasn't entirely sure was safe to use. At least not if one judged cleanliness by how clear the water was.

"Feeling better?" Severus asked, drying his hands on his dark jeans as there were no towels-disposable or otherwise. There was a white box that was labeled air dryer but Lucius wouldn't even know how to turn that on. Based on the fact that Severus wasn't using it, he decided it must be broken.

"I suppose," he said. Standing in front of the mirror Lucius made quick work of the bandage, applying the new one with a practiced ease. He had been in far too many battles not to be able to do basic first aid. In the other pocket of his sweatpants he found an elastic hair tie and used it to pull back his long, dirty locks from his face. He really needed a shower and a bed.

"At least you can walk again," Severus replied.

"What happened on the motorway after I fell unconscious?" he asked, genuinely curious as to what had become of Odie. Had he escaped?

"Jonathan hobbled back into the motel to warn us about what Papa Odie had gotten himself and you into," Severus said.

"Who's Jonathan?" Lucius asked, squinting at him in the grimy mirror. He was leaning against it heavily and didn't have the energy to turn around.

"The Squib in the stolen car," Severus said. So that was where Odie had sent the Squib. He had barely thought about it until then. How had Odie even managed to do it? He had never known a spell that could displace a person like that. Even Side-Along Apparition required that both parties be transported. "I got there in time to see them load you in the ambulance and I simply followed you from there. While they treated your head wound I went back for Arthur and the car."

"Where is Odie now?" he asked.

"In jail I would imagine," Severus shrugged. "He'll stumble back home in a month or so maybe. He likes to wander through the jails every now and then."

"Seriously?" Lucius asked incredulously. Severus shrugged again.

"He's crazy," was the only explanation he gave.

"Well, what's happening with the Ministry?" Lucius inquired.

"They're all in an uproar," Severus said. "Percy Weasley and Auror Jennings are both in Mungo's for burns. Arthur's wife went there to see the kid but I guess he wouldn't see her. She's been crying ever since."

Lucius raised his eyebrows at this information. First of all, it sounded suspiciously like gossip-something Severus never did. Second of all, he wondered why he should care about the Weasley family troubles at all. After all, he barely knew them. He barely even wanted to admit that they should be allowed to exist.

"Percy Weasley is of the opinion that the Dark Lord had not risen again," Severus said catching Lucius's look of confusion. Lucius nodded his head. So even the Weasleys were at odds over Potter and his tale.

"What was Papa Odie doing?" he asked. "Exploding that fountain? And what was that stuff the Squib dropped in the water?"

"It's called Exploding Chalk," Severus said, clearly picking and choosing how he was going to answer.

"I've never heard it," Lucius responded. He had become quite an expert in Magical explosions over the years but he had never before seen anything such as what had happened to that fountain.

"That's because it didn't exist until six months ago," Severus replied.

"Did you make it?" Lucius asked, finally turning around and leaning against the sink to give Severus his full attention. Neither of them felt the need to move quicker than they wanted and they gave no regard to the fact that Arthur was likely waiting for them in the car.

"No," Severus replied. "At least not entirely. The original product was designed to explode the water in order to drench people standing near it. I simply weaponized it."

"You weaponized a Zonko's product?" Lucius asked, knowing that if his head had been a little clearer he would have been able to ridicule Severus quite completely. With affection, of course. They were, after all, friends. Severus squirmed a little.

"It wasn't a Zonko's product," he said. "I confiscated it from the Weasley twins."

"So what was Papa Odie doing with that weaponized Weasley prank?" Lucius asked grinning. He found it deeply amusing that Severus, even after twenty years, was weaponizing harmless pranks.

"Trying to shut up Percy Weasley," Severus said quickly, clearly hoping to turn the tide of the conversation away from the potential of being teased. "Papa Odie has known the Weasley family for hundreds of years. When Percy left the family he became a loose cannon."

"He's talking to Aurors," Lucius said, remembering what he'd seen in the Atrium.

"Yes," Severus replied. "The Ministry of Magic won't believe that Odie is Merlin but they will believe that he's organizing the Muggleborns, the Squibs, the werewolves. Everyone they've managed to piss off in the last fourteen years. Fudge is terrified that there will be a rebellion. Percy Weasley could hand him everything he needs to know."

"So why hasn't he yet?" Lucius replied. "I remember when he worked for Crouch. There wasn't anything he wasn't willing to do to get favor. What's stopping him from giving up everything?"

"Loyalty I would suspect," Severus said. "He is Gryffindor after all. There must be a conscious there. I taught that boy for his entire Hogwarts career. I know he's smart enough to know that should he try to turn Odie into the Ministry it would likely only exacerbate the problem."

"So the Exploding Chalk was a warning?" Lucius asked.

"Yes," Severus nodded, crossing his arms. "A harsh one."

Lucius was quite certain that the last thing Percy Weasley should do was start talking to Aurors about Papa Odie. If Papa Odie was exposed he would most likely leave the country in order to maintain a sense of privacy as he had done for the last thousand years. If that happened everyone under Papa Odie's protection would either have to leave with him (if allowed) or lose the protection entirely. Neither of these options was good for Lucius and his future plans.

He may not have known anything about Papa Odie before he had defected but his entire plan now hinged on the man's presence in his motel outside Aberdeen. Percy Weasley would likely end up dead before he ended up a famous and brave whistleblower. Odie wouldn't be chased out of his own land easily. And Lucius knew situations like this well enough to know that the next time one of Odie's people visited the renegade Weasley it would be to do infinitely more damage than a weaponized prank could ever do.

"And if Percy Weasley ends up dead," Lucius said, "how does Papa Odie expect to keep half of the people who come to him on his side?"

"You're talking about Potter and the Order," Severus noted and Lucius nodded. That was exactly who he was talking about. Granger and Potter might be able to look at an old massacre with a touch of forgiveness, but the death of a Weasley would hit too close. They would walk away. And they would likely take most of their friends with them. Not to mention what Dumbledore would take with him.

"I don't think he cares," Severus said and that worried Lucius. A man who didn't care would do things he normally wouldn't have otherwise. Lucius and Severus couldn't care less about what happened to Percy. He was trying to play a game he didn't have the skills to play and with too big an ego to realize that he didn't have the ability to win. This was _their_ world. This little Gryffindor had no right to set foot there. "But I don't think he'll have to kill Percy either. Dumbledore is interfering as we speak."

Lucius nodded. This effectively ended the conversation and while Severus left the restroom, Lucius went about his business. He wasn't sure how far away Odie's Motel was but it was likely still hours away. He used the toilet, braved the water long enough to wash his hands, and stepped back outside.

As he walked back towards the car, he noticed three men standing off to the side hands tucked into their pockets, and eyeing him intently. Lucius watched them from the corner of his eye as he made his way back to where Severus was standing by the open passenger door, also watching the three men.

"Who are they?" Lucius asked quietly when he reached the car. Arthur was inside using the mirrors of the car to keep an eye on what was going on around him. Lucius couldn't recall if the man was any good in a fight but he would have to do if things got ugly. He would have preferred Fenrir.

"I think they're thieves," Severus replied. _Thieves?_

He had been through Death Eaters, Hunters, Papa Odie, and Muggle police officers. And now common thieves were what he was supposed to go up against next?

"What could we possibly have that they want?" he asked.

"The car," Severus replied. Lucius looked at the vehicle with an interest he had not had before. It was sleek black with chrome trimmings. Lucius didn't know if it was supposed to be particularly expensive as he knew next to nothing about cars. Severus leaned into the passenger seat opened the compartment in front of it, and pulled out a Muggle firearm. Lucius was so surprised by its sudden presence that he didn't even think to ask where he had gotten it from. The smart answer would have been from Papa Odie.

Severus tucked it into the waistband of his jeans, settling his t-shirt over the gun to hide it, and crossed over to where the men were standing. He stopped just before the curb of the sidewalk that wrapped around the store accompanying the fuel station. Ignoring his inhibitions Lucius followed, stopping just behind Severus. Arthur didn't move from the car and nobody expected him to.

"Is there something you need?" Severus asked politely, his hands folded in front of him. The sleeves on Severus's shirt were cut off at the elbows which allowed his Dark Mark to stand out vividly. Lucius's own flannel shirt sleeves had been rolled up and was only half buttoned. His Dark Mark, bruises, and cuts were clear as day. He probably looked like a bum.

"Naw, mate," one of the men said, flicking a cigarette butt away and taking a sip from an unmarked bottle. Lucius had no desire to learn the contents of this bottle though he sincerely doubted it was laced with Benadryl. "Jus' admirin' the car, is all. How long you have it?"

"Long enough," Severus replied. Lucius remembered suddenly that Severus had spent a good portion of his life in the Muggle World. He wasn't sure what use such knowledge would be here but Lucius was heartened to know that at least one of them had the potential to know what they were doing. "You like it, _mate?_"

Severus practically spat out the last word and the man's eyes narrowed at the tone and all it implied. They were moving to start a fight. He should've stayed in the car with Arthur. He was no in condition to fight nor did he wish for Severus to pull out the gun hidden under his shirt. He wasn't even too certain where his wand was.

"O'course," the man said, stepping down off the curb to square off with the darker-and more dangerous-man. "But it ain't a crime to admire, righ'?"

"Depends on what your admiration leads to I guess," Severus said with a casual shrug. "Especially if it leads you to touch things that aren't your's to touch."

"You callin' me a thief!" the man shouted and pushed at Severus's shoulders in anger. It was the only opening that Severus needed and he pulled his fist back and then let it fly in a controlled arc. It landed square on the man's jaw so hard that he blacked out from the pain and fell to the ground unconscious. He was likely now suffering from a broken jaw.

His two friends took one look at Severus's expression and the gun he pulled from his waistband before turning and fleeing the scene. Lucius sighed, more in annoyance than anything else. He did not see the point of this entire encounter and even deigned to say so.

"Was there a point to that?"

"No, there was not," Severus replied. "But it felt good."

They walked to the car in silence.

And no one ever spoke of it again.

00000

"How did Potter's hearing go?" Lucius asked two hours later. He was sitting up in the backseat, too wound up to sleep anymore. He had thought long and hard about what he would do if Percy Weasley made the decision to expose Papa Odie to the Ministry's particular brand of justice. He would likely not step out as a supporter of Odie. He didn't owe him that type of allegiance.

And if Papa Odie choose to leave instead of deal with the infamy of being of being a rebel leader, Lucius would be forced to remain silent on their connection as it would no longer provide any protection. He could not survive this defection alone. Of that, everyone involved was abundantly aware of. .

Somewhere in his silent contemplation he had remembered why he had been at the Ministry in the first place.

"He was cleared of all charges. After the chaos died down that is," Arthur replied, not in the least surprised that Lucius was choosing now of all times to inquire about the Boy-Who-Lived. "I was rather surprised myself. Not that I told Harry that of course, what with him being so nervous. We didn't think he had the votes."

Lucius hummed. He wasn't sure if Arthur was including Potter in his use of 'we'. It was quite clear that Potter and Granger had also thought that Potter didn't have the votes to be cleared. That was why they had roped Lucius into going to the Ministry on his behalf. And now he owed Cynthia a debt. He didn't appreciate that considering the only thing he'd gained from the entire affair was a head wound and a second dosing of things he should never have been dosed with.

"We know it was you that swung the votes," Arthur continued and Severus twisted around to look at him with an expressionless gaze. He must not have known why Lucius had been at the Ministry. "Papa Odie seemed pretty impressed that you were willing to do it."

"I wasn't willing to do anything," Lucius replied. "Potter has me backed into a corner and he knows it."

"Or rather Granger knows it," Severus corrected and Lucius nodded once at the truth in that statement. Granger always seemed to have a better handle on the situation. Lucius thought it was because she had the mind of strategist. She would be a good asset to have around in the coming war. Potter should keep her close.

"Regardless," Arthur said, interrupting them. "Papa Odie was impressed. I guess he thinks you're worth helping."

Lucius had a flash of memory from yesterday morning. Papa Odie pressing his hand to his chest. The feel of the Magic that coursed through his body had been unlike anything Lucius had ever felt. And he had no heart beat. _Why_ didn't Papa Odie have a heart beat?

"Have you heard anything about my family?" he asked. Arthur nodded.

"The Order has had them under surveillance since Harry and Hermione met with Dumbledore at Willow Point. They come and go from the manor at regular intervals. We can't tell if they've been bewitched or not but they _appear_ normal." Arthur didn't have to say that appearances were always deceiving when it came to Death Eaters. Lucius sighed with relief. He was not certain where the Dark Lord was staying these days. He was never in one place long but he was relieved to hear that Narcissa and Draco were still alive and well enough to be seen in public without raising suspicions.

He was certain his trip to the Ministry had already been passed along to the Dark Lord. He would know that what McNair had probably reported was the truth. He had Fenrir were alive and they weren't coming back to him. Lucius should have killed McNair when they had the chance. But they would have lost Potter and Granger's help. There was never an easy path for him to walk these days.

"Good," he finally replied.

He needed to talk to Odie about removing his wife and son from Malfoy Manor. There was only so long they would not be touched. Especially if Lucius was going to start making public appearances again.

There was silence again before Severus turned around again.

"Why didn't you tell me you were going to the Ministry to help Potter?" he asked. Lucius knew that Severus was no fan of the Potters-big, small, dead, or alive. He honestly couldn't tell where Severus was going with this question.

"I didn't think you would care to know," he said, eyeing Severus warily. There was no telling if the encounter with the Muggle had scratched Severus's itch for a fight. Severus snorted in derision.

"You should have told me," he snapped and then turned back around. Lucius tried to prod him further but Severus was quite content to ignore him for the remaining six hours of their drive to Odie's motel. Lucius wished he was well enough to Apparate.

It would have lessened the awkward situation so much.


	16. Chapter 16

The motel was practically deserted when they pulled up. Arthur dropped them off next to the fire pit and left with the car back to main road. Lucius wondered where he was going. Fenrir was dozing in a chair, his feet propped up on the fire pit, and woke at the sounds of the car doors.

"Hey," he said, grinning wolfishly. "Manage to stay out of trouble on your way here?"

"_I_ did," Lucius said shortly eyeing Severus teasingly. Severus was still in a testy mood and didn't acknowledge him. He nodded hello to Fenrir and disappeared into his room a little bit away from them on the first floor. Fenrir watched him go with a curious expression.

"The hell's wrong with him?" he asked. Lucius shrugged.

"Who knows?" he replied. "He won't tell me what I've done wrong this time. I feel like we're back in Hogwarts."

"He does this a lot?" Fenrir asked. Fenrir didn't know Severus that well outside of the Death Eaters. He was much older then them and had never been to Hogwarts due to his status as a werewolf. In fact, Fenrir had been a werewolf since he was three years old and knew very little about the type of environment Hogwarts had. He had never understood-or cared to understand-why Hogwarts was so important to wizards.

Lucius however, knew a great deal about Hogwarts, its students, and most importantly Severus. He had been a fifth year Prefect when Severus had been sorted into Slytherin House and had immediately taken the kid under his wing. It had not been done kindly on his part. Severus had been a master at Potions even then but his attitude and introverted behaviour left little room for such things as acquaintanceships and networking.

In fact, Lucius remembered quite vividly exactly how the rivalry between James Potter and Severus Snape had started. Most thought it was over Lily and perhaps it was but she was only a small part of it. James had not truly fallen for Lily until they were both practically adults by which time the hatred between Severus and James was at its strongest.

The true point of contention between them started at the beginning of their second year. James had made a joke-a joke in poor taste but a joke nonetheless. Lucius couldn't remember what it was and he doubted Severus did either. However, Severus couldn't separate harmless humor from demeaning criticism because of his childhood. The only clear difference to Severus was that in Hogwarts, he was free to respond freely. He had thus laid into James with a tongue every bit as sharp as the one he had today.

Severus had been cruel with his choice of words and Lucius remembered the complete look of horror on James's face as Severus ridiculed him over everything from his hair to his shoelaces. The Potter boy clearly hadn't considered this type of reaction to a simple joke even if Severus had been the butt of it. James might have been able to brush it off had Severus not refused to apologize.

And just as anyone with a wounded ego would have done, James turned on Severus and fired back with every ounce of cruelty he had. James and Severus entered into an all out war with each other but it was Severus's refusal to be anything but obstinate that led to him being blamed for the entire feud. And by the time Albus Dumbledore had discovered the true nature behind Severus's cruel words and antisocial behaviour it had been too late. He had been swept up in the promise the Dark Lord had given to all of them.

Lucius knew that Severus was still feeling the loss of Lily's friendship. He had been there the first time Severus had come back from visiting her grave. There was too much history between Severus, Lily, and the Marauders for any of the remaining involved peoples to move past it. They had all been hurt, Severus most deeply.

"Yes," Lucius said, not telling Fenrir any of this. If Severus found out he would never speak to him again. The man was intensely private. Lucius still didn't know when his birthday was and he was the closest thing Severus had to a best friend. "Yes, he does this quite a bit."

"I've heard rumors about him," Fenrir said. "Mostly that he's impossible to work with."

"You just have to know what you're doing," Lucius replied. Fenrir smiled, probably putting what he had heard to what he had seen. Lucius decided to change the subject. "Where is everyone?"

"Potter and Granger left with the Weasleys. I don't think we'll see them any time soon. And nobody's showed up since Papa Odie left. They must know he's not here. Even Marty's gone."

Lucius was surprised at that. He wondered if this was a sign that they shouldn't be there either. Were the wards only good as long as Papa Odie was there consistently? Were they safe to remain there? He didn't believe that Severus would let them walk into a dangerous place without warning no matter how cross he was.

"But I do have good news," Fenrir continued, looking thoroughly pleased with himself.

"What?" Lucius asked, taking the bait.

"Potter left behind a copy of the manuscript for his second book," Fenrir replied and Lucius glared at him. That was _not_ the news he had been hoping to hear. He had-for one wild moment-thought that Fenrir had managed to convince Granger to hand over Skeeter to them. He should have known better than to have such high hopes for Fenrir Greyback.

"How is that _good_ news?" Lucius snapped. "Do have any idea what that could do to all the work we've done?"

"It's not like Odie didn't already know," Fenrir said calmly not at all displeased by Lucius's reaction. He had probably expected it. "They _all_ know about you."

"Have you started reading it yet?" he asked. Fenrir nodded gleefully.

"Did you really get into a brawl with Arthur Weasley in the bookstore?"

Lucius groaned and walked away. There was a shower and a bed waiting for him in room 206 and he was determined to focus on that and not on Fenrir's jeering.

00000

The next morning, the motel was still was still empty but Lucius had finally been able to push the worry from his mind long enough to sleep for eight solid hours. He did, however, wake up intensely hungry. He couldn't remember the last time he had eaten but he was sure it was at least two days ago.

Fenrir and Severus were already at the fire pit eating what was left of the two hundred pounds of beans Marty had cooked up. Severus kindly handed him a bowl and Lucius knew that meant he was over whatever he'd been mad about in the first place. He was certain it had something to do with the fact that he'd helped Potter with his court hearing but he was too tired to care beyond that. Severus would just have to deal with it.

"What are we supposed to do with Odie gone?" Fenrir asked as Lucius laid into the beans with gusto. Nobody paid his lack of manners any mind and he wondered when he had lost his table manners.

"Odie will probably be in jail for at least a few weeks, maybe longer," Severus said. "He has some serious charges stacked against him. Also, Lucius you can't go into the Muggle World for awhile. You're a fugitive now."

Lucius simply nodded around his food. He didn't care if he never went to Muggle World again. He did however have a sudden thought.

"Who is Inspector Reyna?" he asked. Severus looked at him sharply and with a great deal of concern.

"How do you know that name?" he asked.

"Potter mentioned it once," Fenrir said, also remembering the conversation that passed between Granger and Potter while they had been bound to dining chairs.

"He was on the motorway," Lucius supplied. "He tried to ask me questions about Odie."

"Inspector Reyna," Severus said, his tone clueing Lucius into the fact that he was weighing his words carefully. Lucius even stopped eating to pay more attention to his words. "Is what you would call an 'In the Know Muggle'."

"The hell is that?" Fenrir asked, looking as if he wanted to laugh at the term but not sure if it was funny yet or not.

"It's a Muggle that knows that Magic," Severus replied.

"Like someone who's related to a Muggleborn," Lucius said thinking of Granger's parents. Severus shook his head however.

"No, this term applies exclusively to people who work with the Muggle government," he said. He looked deeply uncomfortable. "They come across Magic every now and then in the course of their everyday jobs. Most are Obliviated after they become useless but some of them slip through the Ministry's net. Inspector Reyna is one of them and he's _very_ good at continuously slipping through that net."

"Are you saying the Ministry of Magic is targeting him?" Lucius asked. That would make sense why Potter would think to take them to Reyna after being at odds with the Ministry himself. The enemy of my enemy and all that.

"Not in so many words," Severus replied. "I doubt they realize that he manages to slip by them so often. The only reason I know about it is because he's been watching Potter."

"Why?" Fenrir asked.

"Protection," Severus said. "Reyna has known about Magic since the first war. He fought several Death Eaters when they attacked a Muggle department store in London, hoping to ratchet up a body count. He killed two Death Eaters, wounded three, and apprehended the last one. They were all rounded up by Aurors."

"What does that have to do with Potter?" Lucius asked, impressed by the story but not really caring about it. It didn't have the information he wanted.

"Nothing," Severus said. "I"m saying that Reyna knows Magic when he sees it. He knew Potter was a wizard before Potter did and he's been watching out for him ever since. I heard he clashes with Hunters quite a bit."

"How does he know Odie?" Fenrir asked.

"Odie heard about what happened in the department store," Severus said. "He went to meet Reyna. They communicate about Muggleborns and Hunters and such. They aren't technically allies but they drop a hint to each other when necessary."

"Interesting," Lucius said. "What do you think he's asking Odie now?"

"Probably why he insists on being such a child sometimes," Severus snapped. "Papa Odie takes unnecessary risks. He's trying to die but when you're immortal all you do is leave destruction in your wake."

Odie had no heartbeat. That seemed incredibly important to Lucius in that moment. He just didn't know what to do with that information or even how to ask about what it meant.

"All that still doesn't answer my question," Fenrir said and they both looked at him with confusion. They had both forgotten what his original question had been. "What do we do now that he's not here?"

"We'll have to leave the motel," Severus responded. "The wards will start to fail after a few days. They're too reliant on an anchor and unfortunately Papa Odie is that anchor."

"Where do we go?" Fenrir asked.

"Hogwarts," Severus said immediately. Fenrir opened his mouth to argue but Lucius headed him off.

"No one will know you're there," he said. "It's still summer. By the time the students return Odie should be out of jail." He looked at Severus for back up and he nodded.

"Lucius is right," he said, not knowing why Fenrir didn't like the idea of Hogwarts but determined to sell it to him nonetheless. "No one will know you are there. I promise."

Fenrir looked from one to the other trying to determine if they were just telling him what he needed to hear and not the truth. But in the end, they were able to convince him to go.

00000

They Apparated to a trail just outside of the Hogsmeade railway station. From there they followed the road to Hogwarts's front gate where Severus placed his hands on the wards and waited patiently as they read his identity and allowed the gate to be opened.

None of them was surprised to find Dumbledore waiting for them on the front steps.

"Good morning gentlemen," he greeted pleasantly.

"Headmaster," Severus nodded. Lucius nodded as well and Fenrir just stared until Lucius stepped on his toes.

"Hi," he grunted awkwardly but the Headmaster didn't comment.

"I heard a most interesting story," Dumbledore continued. "About a Pureblood on a motorway in London. Apparently there was a car accident." His eyes were twinkling and he didn't seem to be looking for an explanation. In fact, he seemed to be laughing at the predicament Lucius had found himself in. Lucius was smart enough to know that to other people his life would actually be funny. He wasn't laughing.

"Yes," Lucius replied. "I heard that same story."

Dumbledore smiled, delighted for whatever reason.

"How is your defection going for you Lucius? Fenrir?" the Headmaster asked. Lucius looked at Severus as if he might help them answer the question in the correct way but Severus simply raised his eyebrows. He could tell that the Potions Professor wasn't going to be much help anytime soon.

"Alright," Lucius said. He didn't elaborate and Fenrir just nodded in agreement but didn't seem as if he was going to say anything soon.

"Hmmm," Dumbledore hummed clearly searching for something else to say. He had probably been hearing about what they were up to since they had parted ways at Willow Point. There likely wasn't anything he needed to know that he didn't know already.

"The full moon is in a couple weeks," Fenrir said suddenly and Lucius repressed the urge to roll his eyes at the weak attempt to bring silence to an end. "Will I shift in the woods?"

"You are certainly welcome to," Dumbledore said politely. "I believe someone will be joining you as well."

"Who?" Fenrir asked.

"Remus Lupin shifts in these woods on a frequent basis," the Headmaster said lightly despite the fact that Fenrir perked at the mention of Remus. Lucius wasn't entirely certain what had happened between Fenrir and Lupin during the war but it hadn't been pretty. As far as he knew, the two of them hadn't spoken in at least a decade if not longer.

"Oh, alright," Fenrir said and then fell silent again.

Soon after that, they were allowed to go in.

Lucius and Fenrir followed Severus down into the dungeons and into his personal quarters.

"Since you're here as my guests and not as guests of the school you'll have to stay with me."

"Do you even have extra beds?" Lucius asked, concerned that he might be sleeping on the floor for no apparent reason considering the hundreds of empty beds in the place.

"No," Severus said. "The house elves will have to take some camp beds out of storage."

"Great."

"Don't get glib with me," Severus snapped, slinging his rucksack onto his dingy looking couch. Lucius was fairly certain it was older that Severus was. "It's your own fault you aren't still holed up in your manor."

He sneered the word manor reminding the blond wizard that he often claimed that Lucius's wealth had made him weak. Severus didn't think that Lucius was capable of perseverance and that Draco was even worse. He wasn't entirely wrong but it still annoyed Lucius so much that when Severus turned his back to walk away, Lucius flipped him off.

Fenrir actually giggled at the immature display.


	17. Chapter 17

Lucius was having a bout of insomnia and he was positive that it came from being forced to hide in Severus's little dungeon hovel for seven days straight. Both Fenrir and Lucius were basically confined to the dungeons in a desperate attempt to avoid anyone and everyone in the castle. None of them wanted to get cornered into a conversation with Dumbledore; McGonagall had actually hissed at Fenrir when she'd presented Severus with some paperwork about the upcoming first years; the crazy Divination professor made them all uncomfortable when she'd drunkenly stumbled through the dungeons.

And that had only been their first morning. Lucius and Fenrir had been hiding ever since. Lucius had actually seen Fenrir literally dive into an abandoned room in order to avoid the fastly approaching Flitwick. Lucius had simply rolled his eyes, nodded at the small man who couldn't care less about his presence there, and walked away with as much dignity as he could.

So with all the hiding, restless nights on a cot, and generally his current unpleasant existence (also Fenrir had started snoring) he had tossed and turned for two hours before he'd decided to get up for a walk. This late the hallways were abandoned and since there were no students there were no staff patrolling. He was free to wander aimlessly, in silence, and in solitude.

He wasn't sure how long he wandered around until he happened to pass by the doors of the library. Having attempted to gain entry to this room not two days ago only to find it closed for the rest of the summer, he was rather surprised that the doors were slightly open. It looked as if someone had done a very bad job of closing them after having entered the room.

Sliding his finger through the crack between the heavy oak doors, Lucius gently opened it just enough to slide through. Just as quietly he moved the door back to its original position. He peered into the darkness and began to move through the stacks peering around each corner to see who might be there before moving on. Finally, near the back he heard some shuffling.

He looked up and saw the sign that indicated this was the section dedicated to Muggle Studies. He had never been in this section of the library before. He doubted very much more than a handful of students had been in this section either due to prejudice or to the fact that most Muggleborns didn't feel the need to look up the basics of their birth world.

Peering around the corner he observed a very strange scene. Someone, dressed in all black with a hood over their head, was very quickly taking books off a shelf and stuffing them into a bag that was strapped over their chest and resting on their hip. The person would run a finger over spines and when they found one they liked the look of they grabbed it and it disappeared into the bag. It took Lucius a moment to process the strangeness of what he was seeing but when he did he realized that he knew this person.

There was not a hood in the world that would ever effectively hide that hair and Lucius only knew one person who had a head of hair like that.

"Granger?" he asked, his voice sounding unreasonably loud in the quiet of the room. The girl jumped, squeaked, and dropped the book she was holding. Then she spun around and gazed at him with a perfectly formed look of innocence on her face.

"Hello, Mr. Malfoy," she greeted. "Fancy seeing you here."

"Yes, fancy that," he replied, deeply amused despite himself. She was playing calm but he could clearly see her eyes darting from side to side as if figuring out an escape route. "How did you get in here? The doors were locked the last I checked."

"Not very well," she replied and Lucius was desperately trying not to laugh. He couldn't tell if she had always been this amusing or if he was suddenly going crazy.

"Do you always steal library books in the middle of the night?"

"I'm not stealing. I'll bring them all back when I'm done."

Granger turned back to the stacks and began moving again. Lucius followed her around watching as ancient Muggleborn histories, war tactics, and alchemy manuals disappeared into that beaded bag Severus had handed off to her.

"Interesting selections," he noted.

"I have interesting needs," she replied. He wondered when she had grown comfortable enough with him that she wouldn't even blink at his knowing she was stealing from the Hogwarts library. And it was stealing no matter how many books she brought back.

"Is there a reason you don't want anyone to know what you're reading?"

"What makes you think that?" she asked, once again playing innocent.

"You're here in the middle of the night during your summer break. Why not just wait until term starts again and check them out? Or you could use the mail order service that Madam Pince has been trying to get rid of for the last thirty years. But instead you sneak in, pick a lock, and take what you want. You may be able to tell yourself it isn't stealing and that its the easiest way but I am not an idiot Granger.

"You don't want a record of what you're reading. You don't anyone to know that you have a knowledge about the subjects you're currently interested in. Why not?"

Granger stopped and turned around to look him in the eyes. She nervously tucked a strand of hair back into the hood which immediately popped back out again.

"Have you ever heard the phrase 'Knowledge is power'?" she finally asked.

"Of course," he replied.

"Do you where it comes from?"

"Enlighten me."

"Well, there is no real consensus about where it truly comes from but for a long time the Muggles used it as an excuse to spy on the Wizarding World. They would send in Sleepers and werewolves and they would try to learn everything about this world."

"Fascinating," he said snarkily. "Is there a point?"

"Yes. In 1662 a Dark Lord rose to power, much like You-Know-Who."

"I'm aware of who Dark Lord Allele was. So, again what's your point?"

"Allele was the only Dark Lord in the history of Hogwarts to ever conquer the school. Do you know what the first thing he did was?"

"He started killing Muggleborns," Lucius replied. He was impressed with Granger's knowledge of history but she still wasn't telling him anything he didn't already know. To his surprise she smiled and shook her head pleased that she knew something he didn't. He wondered how many people consistently got this look.

"No," she said. "Allele didn't just want to kill the Muggleborns, he wanted to erase them. He knew that as long as the Muggleborns had their books, their histories, and their culture the Purebloods would never have the control he wanted them to have. There would always be resistance; there would always be Odie.

"So the first thing he did was come to the library and he started to burn the books. That's why a lot of Purebloods today don't know very much about Muggleborns. The books were burned. They're only now starting to recover those that survived. The Muggleborns were really careful about letting them come back to Hogwarts."

"You think You-Know-Who is going to do the same thing. That's why you're stealing books. What are you going to do with them?"

"Hide them of course," she said with a little smirk that said quite plainly that he'd asked a stupid question.

"But where? Gringotts?" There weren't very many places in this world that you could hide a vast amount of Muggleborn artifacts. Lucius had no delusion that Granger was the only one hiding things.

"I can't tell you Mr. Malfoy," she said politely . "You're a Pureblood and no one really trusts you all that much. No offense."

"None taken," he told her. She smiled again, turned her back, and continued with what she was doing. More books disappeared into her bag and he followed, trying to catch a glimpse of titles. When she came to the end she held a small little book in her hand for quite a while, just staring at it with a thoughtful look on her face.

He waited silently, not moving, barely breathing. This felt important, this moment. He had experienced moments like this before. She finally looked at him and then held the little book out to him.

"Here," she said. "This is one you should have. I'll put my own copy in with the protected books."

He took it and read the title.

Muggleborns: The Second Class

He had heard that term before. Second class. People used it a lot to talk about Muggleborns, Squibs, and others. He had never paid much attention to it before and he didn't doubt that Granger had known that. Why this book though? Over any of the others in her little beaded bag with all it's charms and spells?

He looked up to ask her just that but she was gone.

Lucius searched the library to try and find her but he couldn't find her. The gate to the Restricted Section was propped open. Someone would notice that and they would certainly care. He left as quickly as possible and snuck back into Severus's quarters hoping that no one had noticed he was gone throughout the night.

Just before he fell asleep he spared a thought to how she had gotten inside the school in the first place.

00000

The little book was hidden underneath his pillow on his cot. He didn't want either Severus or Fenrir to know he was reading it. If Granger thought it was something the Dark Lord was going to burn then it was likely a book that could get him killed if the wrong sort found it. He refused to acknowledge that the same sort of people were out to get him anyway.

He had resolved to look at the book later that night but for now he was expected to help Severus with some brewing. Apparently Severus expected both him and Fenrir to work, the same as Papa Odie had.

"Have you heard anything about Papa Odie?" Lucius asked.

"No," Severus grunted. "I have not."

"When do you expect to?" Fenrir asked lifting four heavy cauldrons at once. Severus used them to mass produce several of the more finicky potions. He made quite a bit of money on the side selling such things to people down in Knockturn Alley. Fenrir set the cauldrons down on separate tables and then went back to the storage room for more. Lucius was steadily slicing his way through more newt spleens than he had ever seen in his life.

He wasn't sure what Severus was getting ready to brew but he had been told it would take at least ten hours. That left Lucius a lot of time to think.

"I expect that Papa Odie will turn up exactly when he wishes to turn up and not a minute before," Severus replied.

"What are you guys brewing?" Fenrir asked, taking a seat in the corner with his now battered copy of Potter's second book. His job had been completed for the moment and he was clearly unwilling to go and sit in Severus's rooms by himself. The Potions Professor pulled out two sheets of parchment from his back pocket. At the same time he flicked his wand and the door slammed shut and bolted itself.

Lucius raised his eyebrow at Severus who said, "There's a guest in the castle. We're brewing two different things today. These four cauldrons will be used for making more of the Weasley chalk. Both the regular version and the weaponized version." There was no need to ask why Severus wanted a non-lethal chalk. Quite a handy distraction that purple chalk.

"These four cauldrons," he continued, "we'll use for the base of Electric Shock Shake."

"The what?" Fenrir asked.

"Is that another Weasley prank?" Lucius asked. "How many of their pranks have you weaponized."

"Nearly all of the ones I've been able to find," Severus replied. "The twins don't like it so don't say anything to anyone."

"Well, what does it do?" Fenrir asked, his book open on his knee.

"It gives you an electric shock," Severus said simply and Fenrir rolled his eyes.

"Yeah I worked that out for myself, thanks," he snapped. "Is it fatal?"

"It's about to be," Severus replied, pulling on dragonhide gloves and pulling the cork out of a giant ceramic jug at the base of one cauldron. He hefted it into his arms and began pouring it into the cauldron. There was a sudden intense smell of garlic and Lucius went back to his chopping. He had least another 12 pounds to go.

00000

A few hours later, Lucius was going to the restroom. Severus had been kind enough to allow him a ten minute break after he had started complaining nearly an hour ago. It was a testament to the man's years of experience as a teacher that he hadn't given in before then.

Unfortunately, as he rubbed his neck and grumbled he managed to run straight into something short and pink not six feet from the door of Severus's classroom where he had set up his illegal brewing for the day.

"Hem. Hem."

Resisting the urge to scowl Lucius said, "Sorry Madam Umbridge, I didn't see you there. Are you well?" She must not have known who she'd run into either because it took a moment for her face to clear.

"Oh, Mr. Malfoy, what a pleasure," she simpered. Lucius took that as a sign that he was still in the good graces with the Minister which meant that nobody had seen him leave with the Squib responsible for the explosion. He glanced up and saw Dumbledore watching him amusedly and McGonagall scowling with abject hate though it wasn't directed at him. He thought that was interesting.

"What are you doing here?" he asked Umbridge as politely as he could.

"I will be taking over the Defense Against the Dark Arts position in a few weeks," she told him. "Did you not see that Educational Decree Number Twenty-Two had passed?"

"No," he said truthfully and sent a questioning look over her head. "But surely you're needed at the Ministry more than you are here?"

"Oh no," she simpered. "This is the most important place to be at the moment. Cornelius feels that the standards at Hogwarts has fallen to an alarming low. You, of course, know this." She added a nice little laugh at the end. He had almost forgotten his last little campaign to get Dumbledore out of Hogwarts. He had been planting little things in Fudge's head for years about the Headmaster. Apparently, they were beginning to work just in time for him to switch sides. He wondered if other people managed to inconvenience themselves so spectacularly.

"I suppose," he said vaguely and just managed to catch that McGonagall looked as if she was actually considering murder. "But why are you here so early? Taking a tour?"

"Oh yes," she said. "We were just headed to talk with Professor Snape about his syllabus. Would you care to join us?"

"I'm afraid Severus isn't available at the moment," Lucius lied hoping that he was being convincing. The last thing Severus would want was for her to see him brewing the same weapon that had exploded in the Ministry. Though he doubted she would know what it was. However, there was a werewolf in there that was wanted for murder that she would most definitely recognize. "He's in the middle of some very sensitive brewing. He wouldn't even see me."

"Oh are you close?" she prodded. He knew that if he said yes she would spend the rest of the year trying to get in good with Severus-something nearly impossible to do. She seemed to be trying to cozy up to him for some reason and had been for several years. He couldn't fathom why. What he did know was that Severus would be thoroughly irritated with her within seconds.

"Yes, we are," he said, smiling as sweetly as he could manage while at the same time throwing Severus under the proverbial bus. Dumbledore tried to stop smiling knowing exactly what he was doing and McGonagall glared, clearly not amused on Severus's behalf. "We were friends in our Hogwarts years in fact."

"Oh how nice," she said. "And he is also the Head of Slytherin is he not?"

"Yes he is," Lucius said.

"Well, since we can't speak with him directly at the moment how about we stop off at the Slytherin Common Room? Hopefully, it well be in better condition than the Gryffindor's."

Lucius glanced at the two Gryffindors behind Umbridge and neither looked amused. However, despite not wanting her to be anywhere near the dungeons where she may walk into Fenrir, he could not come up with an excuse to get her away.

"I do not see why not," he replied and held his arm out to her. She took it and he shot a look over his shoulder to see if Dumbledore was planning to do anything. Apparently he was not. Lucius dearly hoped that Fenrir would not come out into the corridor. Although, Severus had clearly known she was there. He would have the sense to keep Fenrir in his corner with that blasted book.

Everything-all his worries that is-were rendered moot when a huge explosion rocked the corridor and Severus came flying out through the half closed door and slammed into the wall opposite. The Professor grunted and Lucius quickly ditched Umbridge to scamper around the door frame just in time to stop Fenrir from coming into view. One of the cauldrons was issuing billowing black smoke that Lucius hoped wasn't toxic. He quickly cast a Bubble Head Charm on both himself and Fenrir to be safe. The werewolf's ears were perked.

"That wasn't the right proportion," Severus was saying, clearly dazed. "Too much horn."

"Are you alright Severus?" McGonagall asked. "Did you hit your head?" There was the distinct sound of shoes on stone as Severus tried to gain his feet. Lucius left Fenrir pressed against the wall and he took a single step back to the doorway to see what was happening. Umbridge wasn't even looking into the classroom.

"Do you often do dangerous experiments within the school?" she sniffed. Severus looked at her blearily.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked. Umbridge immediately took offense and drew herself up to her full height which admittedly wasn't much.

"I am Dolores Jane Umbridge," she snapped, "I am Senior Undersecretary-"

"Stop!" Severus snapped and waved his hand through the air as if he could bat her away. "I don't care anymore." He shook off McGonagall's grasp, cast a Bubble Head Charm on himself and went back inside the classroom. He gave Lucius a very clear get-out look and slammed the door behind him when the Pureblood stepped back into the hall.

Removing the Charm, Lucius said, "You'll have to forgive him Madam. I'm quite certain he hit his head." And while that may have been true Lucius saw no reason to warn her that Severus's usual disposition was cranky and obstinate.

"Of course," Umbridge acquiesced but she wasn't quite done. "Do you often authorize dangerous experiments?" she asked Dumbledore. Surprisingly, it was Lucius who answered.

"Severus has permission from the board to work on experiments inside of Hogwarts," he said feeling suddenly defensive of the Potions Professor, a feeling rarely expressed by Slytherins. "Normally, he works in his own private lab but this particular experiment required a larger work area. He does not normally brew such things when students are around or he could risk losing his Mastery for lack of accordance to safety protocols."

There was a short but deep silence and finally Umbridge sniffed. It was quite clear to her at this juncture that Severus was off limits.

"Well, I think I've seen all I need to," she said. "You will be sent a copy of the report I'm giving to Minister, Headmaster. Just as promised. I can show myself out."

With that she spun on her heel and was blessedly, gone. Dumbledore nodded him to once, looking older than ever and followed her out of the dungeons with McGonagall on his heels.


	18. Chapter 18

"What the hell was that...that _monster_ doing in Hogwarts?" Fenrir seethed the second Lucius got back inside the lab. He thought it was incredibly ironic that the alpha werewolf was referring to someone else as a monster.

"She's the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor this year," Severus said, banishing the mess the explosion had caused of his potion. "I actually pity the students."

"I can't be here," Fenrir said suddenly and made a move to leave the room. He looked panicked, a look Lucius had rarely seen on Fenrir.

"Fenrir don't," Lucius snapped grabbing the werewolf's arm as he moved past him. "She could still be lurking around. And besides, where would you go?"

"Anywhere," he replied. "Anywhere she isn't."

"Stop!" Lucius shouted, trying to break through to where Fenrir's reason was. The werewolf seemed to have temporarily lost all of it. "You have nowhere to go!"

"I don't care!" Fenrir shouted and then proceeded to snap his jaws at Lucius as if he was going to sink his teeth into his arm. It frightened Lucius to the point that he had to snatch his hand away or risk being bitten. Fenrir growled at him in warning not to follow and left through the door. Lucius wasn't sure if he was going to come back.

"Is this about the anti-werewolf legislation Umbridge squeezed through the Wizengamot? I did not think Fenrir cared about fair salaries," Severus said after a moment of silence.

"No," Lucius replied shortly. Fenrir wasn't the type of wolf to care about salaries, jobs, or even voting rights. Fenrir was far too wild for that. What he cared about was the way in which Dolores Umbridge was able to spread hate like a disease. Lucius had thought her a useful tool for his anti-Dumbledore campaign over the years. However, he had always kept her at a distance because he had always hoped to keep Fenrir in his pocket as well.

Umbridge had once been responsible for setting several wizards free after they had brutally murdered a werewolf. The thought was that it wasn't murder because it happened on the full moon. It hadn't mattered that they had gone looking for the wolf-who had never hurt anyone-and that the wolf had been under the effects of the Wolfsbane Potion and had therefore been entirely tame. They had simply walked up to it and began beating him.

The werewolves had never forgotten Umbridge's role in the matter and Fenrir especially had never wished to forget or forgive. They were all enemies now and there was little doubt in Lucius's mind that if Umbridge got her hands on Fenrir he would experience a long and tortuous end. He may have been reluctant to name Fenrir as a friend but he certainly didn't wish him harm. And he certainly didn't wish him Umbridge.

"Where will he go?" Severus asked.

"Hopefully he's going to cool down, kill a squirrel, and come back," Lucius snapped. "He has no where else to go. Not this close to the full moon." Of course their time in Hogwarts would have to come to a close soon anyway with the students returning but they needed to stay together. Losing Fenrir to the wild country now would only hurt the both of them at this point.

"Hmph," Severus replied already bored with the conversation, poring over his notes to figure out how to correct his mistake. Lucius wished it was that easy to fix his own mistakes.

00000

Fenrir stayed out of Hogwarts and in the Forbidden Forest for the next two days. On the day before the full moon Lucius braved the outside world and went to sit on the front steps of Hogwarts to try and work himself up to go and find Fenrir. By mid-day, McGonagall had found him and deigned to converse with him.

"Are you waiting for your werewolf?" she asked and he didn't much appreciate her tone.

"He isn't _my_ werewolf," he replied.

"That's not what I was told," she said. Lucius looked up at her with a questioning expression. Was that what people said about him and Fenrir? "You two are fairly close, will you go look for him after the moon?"

"If Fenrir keeps himself worked up this moon will be particularly difficult. He may hurt himself."

"So you are concerned?" she asked and he got the impression that she was surprised that he could feel something like concern for anyone other than himself, much less for Fenrir.

"Of course," he snapped. "He's my-" Lucius ground to a halt. He wasn't ready to admit that Fenrir was his friend, mostly because he wasn't. Fenrir was something else. Werewolves had a word for it; one that usually made Lucius roll his eyes.

Which brought them back to McGonagall's first turn of phrase.

"He's your werewolf."

She walked away, perfectly content with the fact that she had put him in a pickle. He could either not follow Fenrir, risk their bond, and lose an ally or he could suck it up and enter the forest. He didn't much appreciate Gryffindors in that moment and scowled deeply at her retreating back.

However, he did stuff his hands in his pockets, left the steps, and went into the forest.

00000

The forest was every bit as creepy as Lucius remembered it to be. He was also highly aware that the centaurs were none too happy with Purebloods, particularly his kind of Pureblood. He walked somewhat aimlessly hoping that Fenrir had chosen to stay near because he certainly didn't have the tracking skills to find Fenrir deep in the forest. And he certainly wasn't going to walk around calling out his name.

After half an hour, Lucius was thinking he needed to start leaving but before he could turn back to the castle something hit the back of his head. He turned to see a small bone, picked clean, and so white that it gleamed on the forest floor. Another bone hit his shoulder while he was contemplating where the animal the bone had come from. He turned again but there was no one there.

A third bone hit his toe and bounced off. Lucius looked up and spotted Fenrir crouching in the tree with a self-satisfied grin on his face.

"What are you doing?" Lucius asked sternly as if he was talking to a misbehaving child. Fenrir grinned wider and threw another bone at him which Lucius ducked. "Come down here."

Fenrir shook his head.

"Fenrir, I want you to come back up to the castle. It's better if we stick together."

The werewolf's only reply was to chuck a skull at him.

"Fenrir, I will stun you if I have to."

"If you cast a spell on me, I'll bite you," Fenrir threatened. "I don't want to go back to the castle."

"If you avoid every building Umbridge and her people walk through you'll have to leave Britain all together. Now come down."

"No."

"Are you arguing with me just to argue?"

"Screw you."

Lucius ducked the dead body of a squirrel. He huffed in annoyance and turned to storm out of the forest. He could hear the rustling of branches and leaves as Fenrir followed him from above. The alpha could have followed him without making a sound; Lucius had experienced enough Fenrir-sized surprises to know that. The presence of noise now meant that Fenrir simply wasn't interested in being quiet or he was getting ready to play a different kind of game.

Sure enough, just before the tree line ended Lucius was tackled from above and hit the ground hard with all two-hundred plus pounds of werewolf pinning him to the ground. The breath was forced out of his lungs and the pain was quite substantial.

"What are you doing?" he wheezed into the ground. Fenrir had one hand on his head so that Lucius couldn't move. This type of thing had happened before and he knew it was best not to panic.

"You followed me into the forest," Fenrir said.

"Yes. So?"

"A month ago you wouldn't have followed me into the forest."

"A month ago you would have killed Umbridge no matter who was standing there."

"Are we changing Lucius?"

"Probably. Does any of this have to do with why you tackled me or is that just a werewolf thing?"

"I'm not sure I enjoy changing."

Lucius rolled his eyes at Fenrir's straight forward contemplation of his sudden development of morals.

"I don't enjoy being tackled."

Fenrir dropped his face to the ground so that he could look Lucius directly in the face their noses almost touching. He was probably the only Pureblood in the world who wouldn't panic being in such a position. He had known Fenrir too long to be intimidated. Lucius knew exactly how to tell when Fenrir was going to hurt someone and when he was simply being a werewolf.

"I don't think I should be in the castle so close to the full moon."

"You seem fine to me."

"That's just because it's you. You know that." He stood up, grabbed Lucius by the back of his collar, and hauled him to his feet.

"You'll be fine. Just stay in the dungeon."

"Fine."

Lucius followed Fenrir back out of the forest and into the castle. They passed McGonagall on their way to the dungeon and she gave the both of them a very knowing smile.

Fenrir growled.

00000

Lucius read the book Granger had given him piece by piece. He would sneak out each night and sit in the corridor with his lit wand and read a chapter. The little book was small; it only had five chapters but he read it slowly, engrossed with what he was reading.

On the final night, as he read a section about Muggleborn rights protests in the 1930s Fenrir caught him. It was the night before the full moon and Lucius should have thought that the werewolf wouldn't be able to sleep because of the ache in his joints.

"What are you doing?" he asked, startling Lucius so completely that he dropped the book. Fenrir picked it up.

"_Muggleborns: The Second Class_," he read and made a confused face. "Why are you reading this?"

"Granger gave it to me," he responded truthfully. There was absolutely no reason to lie to Fenrir. "She seems to think I need to read it."

"In the corridor in the middle to the night?" Fenrir asked.

"Um," Lucius started not sure what he could say to make this situation look any less weird or stupid for that matter. There really was no reason why he couldn't have read this in Severus's living room. Nobody in this castle was likely to kill him over it.

"What's it about any way?" Fenrir continued not expecting an answer.

"It's about Muggleborns and what makes them second class citizens," Lucius replied, perfectly happy to be sarcastic. Fenrir threw the book at his face and Lucius scrambled to catch it before it took out an eye. By the time he had righted it, Fenrir had sat on the floor next to him.

"Never thought I'd ever see you reading something like that," Fenrir observed.

"Me either."

"Is it good?"

"It's informative," Lucius told him. "Would you like to hear some?"

"Mmm, hmm," Fenrir hummed. Lucius began reading where he had left off.

"In 1938, the Muggleborn rights crisis came to a violent head when the Minister for Magic, Gregory Marchback, authorized Aurors to use brutal force when breaking up protests. The Aurors used spells that broke bones, caused internal bleeding, and, in one unfortunate case, crushed the skull of Muggleborn fourth year Matilda Von. At Hogwarts, Muggleborns were sequestered in their own separate dormitories so as not to spread their political influence onto other students.

"After months of continued isolation and mistreatment, these underaged Muggleborns walked out of their sequestered dormitories and sat in the Entrance Hall for three days and three nights, refusing to move, eat, or speak. In order to avoid the presence of hundreds of dead children in plain view of everyone, the Hogwarts Board of Governors called in Aurors who arrested all the protesters. Most were taken to Merlin's Hospital For Muggleborns to be treated for malnutrition and dehydration but those few who resisted removal were taken to Azkaban Prison. In their weakened state, most did not survive the week long waiting period for their criminal trial. The two children that did-one a second year and the other a sixth year-were both sentenced to ten years in Azkaban prison for crimes against the Ministry for Magic. Both would die in Azkaban following the eight others who died before their trial.

"By the beginning of 1939, half the cells of Azkaban consisted of Muggleborns and most of the remaining half consisted of their sympathizers. It would not be until Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald in 1945 that these numbers would start to change when the now famed Muggleborn sympathizer would lead a mass protest on the Ministry for Magic. This mass protest only ended when Minister Marchback stepped down from office."

There was more-nearly twenty pages more-but Fenrir had ultimately lost interest.

"Not anything I didn't already know," he said as he stood up.

"Really?" Lucius asked, surprised that Fenrir of all people would be knowledgeable about Muggleborn protests in the thirties. He hadn't even been alive then.

"The werewolf that made me," Fenrir said, "he was a Muggleborn before he was bitten. He was there when they did that sit-in the Entrance Hall. He used to tell me stories about it when I was little."

Fenrir shrugged and left for his camper bed to try and get some sleep before the full moon the next night. Lucius stared after him for a moment, contemplating the fact the Fenrir had never before told him anything about his childhood. He wondered what it meant that Fenrir was starting the tell him these things now.

Putting it from his mind, he turned back to his little Muggleborn rights book, determined to finish it within the hour.


	19. Chapter 19

Fenrir didn't come back after the full moon. Two days ago Lucius would not have been surprised at that turn of events but now he was surprised. And faintly worried as well. The full moons were getting harder and harder on Fenrir and there was a very good chance that the werewolf was laying in the dirt somewhere with broken bones and no way to reach help. That was the danger of an older wolf running without a pack.

Lucius waited until lunch for Fenrir to come back under his own power before he brought the subject up with Severus. The Potions Master had listened quietly before he'd gone to his bedroom and came back in battle leathers and carrying a cross bow. Lucius had been thoroughly surprised and more than a little confused.

"I have a feeling I know where he is," Severus said. "If I'm right we'll have to go deep into the woods."

Lucius nodded and wondered if Severus had any extra armor or maybe an extra wand in case his own failed him. Unfortunately, Severus was out of the door too quickly for him to voice this without sounding scared.

The forest was as dim as it always was and there was some fog that wasn't coming from an any natural source. This worried Lucius because the forest rarely did something like this and nobody knew why or where it was coming from. It had been the subject of many Magical studies but the general consensus was, "It's magic."

"Where do you think he is?"

"At the First Tree," Severus replied.

"What?"

"The First Tree," Severus repeated. "A couple thousand years ago there was no forest here. About 500 years before Rowena Ravenclaw chose this spot for Hogwarts, there was a terrible battle about where the Tree's standing. Magical blood seeped into the ground and the Earth spirits grew this giant oak tree in a matter of days.

"Soon after that, Odie came here."

"Hmph," Lucius said, not surprised by Odie being in yet another story.

"Yes," Severus replied, amused. "Odie and his people took refuge under the tree from their detractors. The magic they performed there caused the forest to grow incredibly rapidly. The First Tree stands as a Magical beacon. That's why all these Magical creatures chose here to live. The First Tree was what drew Ravenclaw to have Hogwarts built here."

"You think Fenrir was drawn to the First Tree?"

"Yes."

"But why now? Fenrir has been in this forest dozens of times before. Why would the Tree suddenly be distracting him?"

"Probably because Odie is there. Normally the Tree's power is muted. It's being drawn to Hogwarts' wards but if Papa Odie is there the Tree will respond to him, making the beacon stronger. Odie hasn't been to this forest for nearly two hundred years."

"What made you think of this in the first place?" Lucius asked. Even if he had known this story this morning, Lucius still would have jumped to Fenrir broke his leg and can't move, not Fenrir has been seduced by a magic tree.

"Just something Papa Odie said a while ago."

"What did he say?" Lucius pressed.

"Just that he missed the Tree or something," Severus replied offhandedly. "Whether he's there or not, I want to see."

The forest was so dim and quiet that it was giving Lucius a severe case of nerves. He felt as if he was being watched and followed and studied. There were so many things in this forest that there was no telling if the thing that was watching him was actually something that he could handle. They must have walked for at least an hour before Lucius got the idea that he should ask about where the First Tree was.

"It's a couple hours into the trees," Severus replied.

"It isn't in the middle of the forest?" Lucius asked. Most important things were in the middle.

"The Forbidden Forest isn't a circle Lucius. There is no middle."

He ignored the implication of stupidity that Severus' tone implied.

So they walked more and Lucius continued to feel more and more paranoid. He was just starting to think that he would be in a fight at any moment when they came to a clearing. He had never seen a clearing like this one. A giant oak tree was the in the very center of the clearing which was perfectly round. A thin mist surrounded the clearing as if it was a fence. There were no sounds of bugs or other wildlife. Familiar river rocks circled the base of the tree, each arranged into a symbol, each symbol humming with magic. There was a heavy feel to the clearing as if it was speaking in a voice Lucius couldn't hear.

And there, beneath one of the low-lying branches was Fenrir, still fully transformed, his head on his paws, and looking quite miserable.

"Fenrir?" Lucius questioned before he could filter himself and not call the attention of the full grown werewolf. But instead of charging for the kill, Fenrir grunted.

"I think he's lucid," Severus muttered and even from this distance Lucius could see Fenrir roll his eyes. Yes, the wolf was lucid.

Lucius stepped out from the trees and entered the clearing. The change was immediate. He felt light and giddy as magic buffeted him from the ground and the First Tree. Magic was coming off the tree in thick waves. It was very little wonder that Fenrir was still transformed. The wolf part of Fenrir was far more Magical than his human part even though his human part was a wizard. The tree was forcing the more magical part of Fenrir to the forefront.

When he reached the Tree, Lucius knelt by the werewolf and placed a hand on his head. The fur was thick and wiry and unlike any fur Lucius had ever felt. Not because it was so unique but because it was werewolf fur and no one touched werewolf fur. The undercoat of Fenrir's neck was soft and thick.

"Are you alright?" Lucius asked calmly. He didn't think it was possible to be scared under this Tree. Not with the magic coming off it. He didn't feel powerful here but he didn't feel weak either.

Fenrir licked his palm and he took a moment to register that he was probably the first Pureblood to get a werewolf kiss and he was definitely the first Malfoy.

Severus came up behind him-sans crossbow-and looked up into the branches.

"I've never felt it this active," he said, sounding awed. "All this Magic, it's going straight to Hogwarts."

"To strengthen the wards?" Lucius asked.

"I think so," he replied. "Dumbledore said they would need to be strengthened before the Dark Lord moved into the open. I didn't think he meant this much."

"You said the First Tree reacts to Odie," Lucius reminded him. "Is he here?"

"I am."

Lucius turned and saw Odie behind him. He was as scruffy looking as ever but he was smiling and the lines on his face had softened.

"How long have you been here?" Severus asked.

"A while," Odie told him and Lucius wondered if Odie had ever spent any time in jail for his motorway stunt. He didn't think so. "I was wondering when you would come for the werewolf."

"I wanted to make sure he wasn't dead," Lucius said. Fenrir nudged his face with a _very_ cold nose. He wondered if that was a normal temperature or not. He put a hand on the snout and moved it away but Fenrir fought him the entire way and instead licked his hand again. This timid behaviour from the alpha made him think that the Tree had just as a profound effect on Fenrir as it had on everyone else.

Lucius was going to mention it when a movement caught his eye and he stood to try to discern what it was through the mist ringing the clearing. It was a person. A person Lucius recognized. Inspector Reyna. He looked vastly different than the last time Lucius had seen him. Clad in leather pants, without shirt or shoes, beads in his hair, and blue markings painted on his bare skin, Inspector Reyna looked like a wild man.

Others were coming behind him, some Lucius recognized, some he did not. Marty was there as was the elderly Maddie from Willow Point. Many of the Sleepers from the motel were there. Dozens of people were filtering in from the mist all as wild looking as Reyna. Lucius looked back to Odie. Peeking beneath his shirt were the blue markings and he also had no shoes.

"Did we interrupt something?" Lucius asked, feeling a small amount of discomfort. Odie laughed.

"No," he said simply.

"You're just on time," Marty said as she drew up close.

"What?" Lucius began but he was never able to finish a full enquiry. Severus's elbow had already connected with his temple and knocked him out cold.

00000

When he came to, he was curious as to why he was in a hammock. His head ached something horrible and his left arm also hurt. He looked down and saw that someone had wrapped it. Blood had oozed through the gauze. There was a small exhale of breath to his right and Lucius turned to see Fenrir, now fully human, in a hammock next to him. Severus was in a chair near Fenrir's feet, arms crossed, and looking far too pleased with himself.

"What did you do to me?" he asked. His mouth was too dry for that to come out with any sort of authoritative tone.

"Papa Odie needed you for a spell."

"Could've asked," Lucius mumbled.

"No," Severus told him harshly and Lucius made a legitimate effort to open his eyes far enough to make eye contact. "What happened to you was very painful. We didn't think you would agree to it and Papa Odie didn't want to take any chances. Apparently, no one trusts you enough to actually give you the choice."

"What did he do to me?" he gasped, floods of pain coming to him now that he was more or less conscious.

"Odie gathered all of his Sleepers weeks ago," Severus began, "to perform a spell here at the First Tree. It was my job to bring you to Hogwarts."

Lucius recalled that Severus had been the one to extract him from the Muggle hospital and he had taken both him and Fenrir to Hogwarts. They had left Odie on the motorway with Inspector Reyna, the very same Sleeper who was well connected through his work. Lucius had heard enough about him to know _that_. It was no coincidence that Reyna was here now. Lucius had been set up from the very beginning.

"What spell?" he mumbled. Someone must have given him pain medication at some point because, even though his arm still throbbed with pain, he was drowsy and just a little too calm. They were in some sort of hut so he wasn't sure if they were still near the Tree or not, which could also explain his calmness.

"Well, first they had to wait until the Tree reacted to Odie's presence," Severus said and then nodded at Fenrir. "I knew you would follow Fenrir into the forest if he never came out after a full moon." Which explained why Severus had jumped immediately to the First Tree. "Really Lucius that was far too easy a trap to spring on you."

"I didn't think I was going to be attacked. Not by _you._" Severus smirked. "What spell?"

"They are strengthening the wards of Hogwarts."

"I had figured that out for myself," he snapped. "What did they need _me _for?"

"They wanted your Dark Mark," Severus told him. "Not only is it the Dark Lord's symbol but your Dark Mark was given by the Dark Lord himself. That makes it a very powerful catalyst." His arm hurt so bad that he had a vague idea where this was going.

"I don't have a Dark Mark anymore do I?" he asked.

"No," Severus said quietly, as if he didn't want to tell him this part. "They took it."

There was only one way to remove a Dark Mark that was to remove the very skin that it was on. Even then you couldn't just take an ordinary kitchen knife to it; you needed a magical blade. It would have hurt; it still hurt; he was absurdly grateful they had left him unconscious.

"It's going to be buried beneath the tree."

"I want to see them do it," Lucius said and both Severus and Fenrir looked at him in surprise.

"Are you sure Lucius?" Fenrir asked, his voice gravelly. His body would need another few hours to remember how to handle human vocal chords again. Lucius nodded.

"Yes, I want to see."

00000

They had already finished burying the Dark Mark when Severus had led him from the hut, down a path, and back to the clearing. Odie had all but skipped up to him when he spotted the pair. Fenrir was still in his hammock sleeping both interested in what happened to Lucius's lost mark and too exhausted to at least pretend to care.

"Lucius," Odie cooed. "Our brand new ex-Death Eater! How do you feel?"

"Like I've been skinned," he snapped but Odie just looked satisfied.

"I would've taken Severus's," Odie admitted and Lucius looked at his friend in alarm. "I've been dying to scrap it off him for years but apparently he's too useful of a spy. Besides his isn't as powerful."

"Why not?"

"Mine was cast be another Death Eater while yours is from the Dark Lord himself," Severus said, reminding Lucius that he gotten his position in the Death Eaters primarily on his family name while Severus had received his position by proving himself in battle.

"Come," Odie said grabbing Lucius's right elbow and leading him over to the Tree where there was a small patch of ground that was clearly freshly dug and recovered. The grass had been ripped away and the dirt was still very loose. Odie forced him to sit in front of it and then knelt beside him, throwing an arm around Lucius's shoulders. He could feel the Sleepers pressing in around him. Watching. Studying. Waiting.

Odie handed him a river rock just like those that were already arranged beneath the branches.

"We couldn't find it in our hearts to give you the choice of removing your Dark Mark," Odie said. "There is too much at risk and I cannot gamble with my people's future. Hogwarts must stand at all costs.

"However, I want to give you the opportunity to prove that you weren't a victim to this spell and that you truly have left Voldemort and his ways behind you. You have a choice Lucius. You can either step away from your past or you can continue to let it dog your every step. I cannot say that you will ever be completely forgiven by many of the people who have cause to hate you but I am giving you a chance to at least ask for some of that forgiveness.

"I want you to help us close Hogwarts to Voldemort forever."

"How?" he asked.

"I can show you," Odie replied. "If you'll agree."

"I agree."

Odie reached around Lucius so that he could cradle each of Lucius's hands in one of his own, guiding them in their movements. He guided him to place the rock on the ground over the loose dirt. Marty stepped up to place another rock in his hand and with Odie's help he placed down rock after rock until they formed a symbol.

He did not know what the symbol meant but the second he placed down the final rock there was a huge wave of magic that buffeted his body as it spilled out from the First Tree. It was like a powerful wind and it would have knocked him over if Papa Odie had not been behind him.

The other man was no longer wearing his shirt and when Lucius's shoulder connected with his chest he could feel something he hadn't felt before. Papa Odie suddenly had an extremely faint heart beat. It wasn't beating fast but it was there. Lucius was sure of it even though it should have been impossible for him to feel.

Lucius was so confused and so tired from his day that he simply sat in the grass under the Tree while the Sleepers began to disappear in the woods some by themselves, some in pairs, and a few others in small talkative groups. Hardly anyone was going in the same direction and it was clear that they were all leaving to return to their lives.

Reyna nodded to him once and Lucius returned the nod. Severus left towards the path that would take him back to the hut, crossbow in one hand, and a half-eaten apple in the other. Odie flopped down beside him and they sat in silence until they were alone.

"What's under all the other symbols?" Lucius finally asked.

"Just different things that make this place what it is," Odie said. Lucius rolled his eyes at the mystery of it.

"Such as?" he pressed.

"Well that one," Odie pointed to the symbol to his immediate left, "contains three bones from a thestral. It eliminates the ability to hide your identity within the clearing. Not even the most powerful invisibility cloaks would work here. That one," he pointed to another symbol further on, "contains a lock of hair from each of the one thousand people who built Hogwarts. They stacked the stones one on top of another, putting in a piece of their magic along the way. That symbol is the base for the wards at the school.

"But it's what's beneath the tree that makes this place so great."

"Severus said the blood of wizards and witches made the ground magical."

"That was part of it. A long time ago I led a small army here in pursuit of hundreds of witches and wizards. We slaughtered them all. On this very spot. There was no forest back then, just a meadow. In the middle of the battle, a child had a very powerful bout of accidental magic. She was so scared that she kicked up a storm without meaning to. The wind was so fierce that knocked the whole lot of us through a loop but we managed to get through it and kill them all anyway.

"It changed me. That battle. My men left me there to grieve about what I had done. I buried her there." Odie nodded to the Tree and Lucius stared at it. It wasn't just a magical tree unlike anything he'd ever seen; it was a gravestone. "This giant oak popped out of the ground a little while later. I forget how long. The forest itself was pretty much as you see it today by the time Lady Ravenclaw found this land."

"Why did you want to kill all those people?" he asked though Lucius had a fair idea. He recalled the night Potter and Granger had led them from Willow Point toward the motel. They had discussed Papa Odie then. Potter had said he'd been born a Muggle.

"I thought I was right," Odie said sounding bitter about his past. "I should have known better."

"I should have too."

Odie smiled and clasped a hand on Lucius's shoulder.

"We're both trying to make up for our sins, Lucius. Hopefully it won't take you a thousand years to even start getting it right."

"I've always worked well under a deadline."

Odie snorted with laughter and they both fell silent again.

There wasn't any breeze in the clearing but Lucius could have sworn he'd heard the faint rustling of leaves and a child's small, hushed laugh.


End file.
